Chase Tinker & The House of Magic

by Malia Ann Haberman

  Chase poked another checker piece, making it hop over one of Andy's. "Too bad, but Janie is a sucker for helping losers."

  "You think you're clever, don't you?" asked James coolly.

  Chase shrugged. "Just trying to survive."

  James scooped up a marshmallowy-soft checker piece and bounced it off his knee and head. "You know, I've given this a lot of thought, and I've decided to let bygones be bygones. Start over. What do you say?"

  "Ha!" Chase snorted. "Right."

  "No, I mean it. I want us to be friends."

  Chase gazed at James thoughtfully. What other tricks was his cousin hiding up his sleeve? He decided to play along.

  "Okay. I'll give it a try." He glanced at Andy, who was attempting to juggle several checker pieces as if he hoped James would go away if he was ignored. "Andy?"

  "I dunno, Chase," mumbled Andy. "He hasn't been nice to us at all. Maybe we should ask him why he's changed his mind."

  "That would be an excellent question," said Chase, sliding his gaze from Andy's scowling face and back to James.

  "We are cousins, after all," growled James.

  "Oh, yeah? That's your answer?" said Chase, with a you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look. "We were cousins yesterday too. That didn't stop you from punching Andy or calling him names, now did it?"

  James moved closer and lowered his voice. "Okay, I want your help to find the fighting powers rooms."

  "I see," said Chase. "You want us to waste our time when we have no proof these rooms even exist."

  But what if they do? he wondered. It sounded as if they needed something really powerful to stop the Dark Enemy. What if other dangerous rooms were hidden somewhere in the house? Grandfather said he had everything under control, but he was only one man. And, Chase hated to think it, but Grandfather was getting kind of old. Then he remembered something else. Aunt Augusta had fought and defeated the Marlowes. As Keeper, she must have had more powerful abilities than just animating objects.

  But, again, they would be going behind Grandfather's back. Chase already had a ton of guilty feelings piled up. They also still hadn't bounced back from their time-traveling fiasco. Should they jump right into another crazy scheme?

  "Have you talked to Janie about this?" he asked.

  "No. I didn't think she'd go for it," said James. "Anyway, Janie's hiding in her room. Something about her stupid pet getting lost."

  "Again?" said Andy.

  "Don't worry," said James, sounding like he couldn't care less. "She found him digging in the garden." He studied the end of his finger. "Too bad. The little snot-rag bit me last night."

  Way to go, Maxwell, thought Chase, before saying aloud, "If I do this, and I'm not saying I will, I'm not doing it without her. I need to talk to her right now." He marched across the floor and down the hallway. "And this time, I'm not giving up," he muttered.

  Five minutes later, he pounded on Janie's door. At least it was visible today. "Janie! Open up! I've had enough of this. If you don't open this door in three seconds, I'll kick it down!"

  Two seconds later, the door flew open. Janie, pink-faced and glowering, snapped, "Do you mind? I'm trying to sleep!"

  He caught the door before she slammed it in his face. "It's twelve-thirty in the afternoon. Not quite nap time."

  "Aren't you the smart one," she said, swinging around and leaving him standing in the doorway. "Okay, what do you want?"

  "I want things back the way they were between us," he said as he entered the room and closed the door. "Before all the time-travel crap."

  "What's the use? You wouldn't understand."

  "So make me understand."

  She stomped back and forth from the bed to the dresser, putting her clean laundry away, yanking drawers open and flinging underwear one way and shirts another. "All right!" she huffed. "Everyone leaves! My dad, my brother, Grandfather coming and going only on holidays, Mom rushing off to who knows where; even you and Andy are leaving at the end of the summer. But Maxwell is always here. I couldn't face losing him and you were ready to fly off and leave him like—like he was some mangy old shoe!"

  "Look, I'm sorry, Janie. I didn't know. I wanted to keep us safe, and not change history any more than we already had." Chase glanced into an open drawer. The clothes wiggled and shook. "And I thought he was dead. But I never wanted him to be dead. You have to believe me." As if he knew they were talking about him, Maxwell popped up, blue and purple striped socks dangling from his mouth.

  "I know. I'm sorry I said that," she said, tugging her socks from the ferret and keeping her head down to avoid Chase's gaze. "I mean, you may have your faults, but you're not hateful."

  "If he hadn't shown up, we planned on escaping to go look for him," he said eagerly when he saw her anger wavering.

  "And after all that, we didn't even keep the Relic from getting damaged," she grumbled.

  "At least we didn't make things worse. Our house was still here, all glowy and magical as ever."

  "There is that."

  "So I'm forgiven?" he asked, leaning forward.

  "I guess," she mumbled.

  "Cool! And, I need your help."

  "Now what?" she said, rolling her eyes.

  Chase grimaced. "James wants to look for the rooms with fighting powers."

  "What!" she exclaimed, tossing her socks aside. "What rooms with fighting powers?"

  "He thinks Grandfather has a bunch of rooms with dangerous powers hidden somewhere," he answered. "What do you think?"

  Janie plopped onto the bed. "Hm…there is the locked room. I guess we can't rule out there might be more."

  "Where do you suppose they're located then?" asked Chase, leaning against the bedpost. "I know we haven't been through the whole house, but do you think they're in some secret place? I mean, if we believe these rooms exist."

  "Nothing here would surprise me," said Janie. "What does he want with them, anyway?"

  "He wouldn't say," he answered. "They'd sure come in handy if we have to fight the Marlowes, wouldn't they?"

  She nibbled on her bottom lip. "Yeah, they would."

  "What should we do?"

  "After our time-traveling problems," she said, sighing, "I don't know anymore. I guess I am kind of curious now. And James will search the house no matter what we say." She jumped up, grabbed Maxwell, and dashed across the room. "I bet Persephone will have some suggestions. Come on!"

  "The Library!" exclaimed Persephone after Chase and Janie found her and Andy and James eating cookies in the kitchen. "That'd be the perfect place to look."

  "This house has a library?" said James, frowning.

  "Oh yeah," said Janie, nodding. "I remember Grandfather mentioning something about it when I first got here, but I've never been in it."

  "So what's so great about the library?" asked Chase.

  "You'll see," Persephone said, smiling and squinting her eyes a bit in an attempt to look mysterious.

  Chase glanced sideways at her. This was the first time she'd spoken directly to him since leaving the attic three days ago. And even though it was only two words, at least it was a start. "So—um—why haven't we seen it before this?"

  "We just haven't worked our way there yet," said Janie. "Let's go check it out now."

  "Good idea!" said Andy. "Libraries in the movies always have secret passages."

  "And boring books," said James, while yawning widely.

  "You don't have to come with us," said Janie, with a saucy toss of her head.

  "No, no I'll come," said James hastily. "Gotta keep an eye on you, don't I?"

  "We made it this far without you," she said as they left the kitchen.

  "Barely," he shot back. "You didn't even think to look for fighting rooms."

  "We would have eventually."

  They argued all the way to the library, but when the five kids were standing at the open double doors, every mouth except Persephone's was too busy hanging open to say much of anything.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR


  The Library

  "Why didn't you bring us here before?" asked Chase, once he found his voice.

  "I forgot," said Persephone, looking sheepish.

  "You forgot? How could you possibly forget a room like—like this?" exclaimed Chase. He dodged several flying books as they zoomed past and into the room.

  She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I've just had other things on my mind. And I've only been up here a few times to get some books for classes."

  The kids wandered into the room, craning their necks and gawking at everything in sight. The ceiling, at least two hundred feet high, was sapphire-blue with fluffy clouds floating across it. A rainbow-striped hot-air balloon bobbed among the clouds.

  One side of the room looked like a castle, the walls made of stone bricks with tapestries and flaming torches hanging between the bookshelves, and shiny suits of armor standing next to the fireplace.

  An oak tree stood in a corner, practically touching the ceiling, its branches filled with a many-leveled treehouse with walkways meandering off in at least twenty different directions.

  In the middle of the room stood a fountain of a towering, green and red dragon, spitting jelly beans from its mouth; on the far side a spectacular pirate ship rested, its sails billowing as though they were filled with wind. Every spare bit of wall was lined with hundreds and hundreds of books. Armchairs, sofas and colorful throw-rugs were scattered throughout the room.

  They jumped back in surprise when a black and gold locomotive skyrocketed from the fireplace, followed by several railroad cars and a caboose. The old-fashioned train made several soaring loops around the room on invisible tracks then vanished back up the chimney.

  "Wow!" yelled Andy, holding out his hands to catch the jelly beans. "I've never seen anything like this!"

  "Ew, jelly beans!" said James. "I like butterscotches." The jelly beans vanished and yellow butterscotch candies spurted from the dragon's mouth.

  "Does this room have a power?" asked Chase as he stared up at the vicious-looking dragon, which looked like it was about to come to life at any moment.

  "I think it's the Conjuring Room," said Persephone.

  "What can we conjure?" asked Andy.

  "All kinds of things, I would guess," said Janie. "Let me see." She closed her eyes and concentrated. "I want a…pepperoni pizza." The air filled with the scent of cheese and pepperoni as a steaming pizza popped onto a table.

  "All right!" said Andy, snatching a piece and taking a huge bite. "Yum!"

  Chase wandered to a wooden shelf filled with hard-covered books and ran his finger along the spines. Maybe if he found the right book and pulled on it, it would open a secret door. After all, like Andy said, libraries in movies always had hidden passageways filled with dusty cobwebs and other creepy things. As he read the titles, one caught his eye: "The Passage of Time." Passage. Hm. He slid the book out partway, tilted it forward and held his breath as he waited…but nothing happened.

  He looked around to see how the other kids were doing. Andy was on his hands and knees with his head in the fireplace, Janie and Persephone had climbed inside a pumpkin-shaped carriage he'd missed earlier, and across the room, James was standing next to the pirate ship. As Chase watched, a wooden gangplank appeared and lowered itself to the stone floor.

  Andy ran up to Chase, a dark smudge on his nose. "I wonder where the train went," he said. "I couldn't see anything up the chimney. I wanted a ride in it!"

  "You should be happy it didn't fly out and run you over," said Chase.

  "Hey!" called James. "Let's check out this ship."

  "Sounds good. Come on, Andy." Chase and Andy hurried to the ship and tromped up the ramp. "Hurry up, girls!" yelled Chase.

  "We're coming!" Janie hollered back as she and Persephone jumped from the carriage, skipped across the floor and boarded the ship. Standing on the deck, they looked around.

  "Where the heck did they go?" asked Persephone.

  "We're down here!" called Andy. "We're in the hold place."

  The girls looked down and saw a square opening in the floor with a ladder leading into the ship's dark belly. They scrambled down into the shadowy hold, which was dimly lit by a lamp dangling from a beam. Ragged hammocks hung at one end, and the other was filled with at least a dozen different-colored chests.

  "Treasure chests!" exclaimed Janie. "What's in them?"

  "They're all locked," answered Chase.

  She bent down and inspected one of the large keyholes. "Maybe the keys are here somewhere."

  "Don't worry, I can break into them," said James, digging in his pockets and finding a paperclip. He straightened the ends and crouched in front of a green chest. "Always come prepared, I say."

  "I don't think you should do that," said Chase as he ducked behind a big barrel, picturing the chest transforming into a fire-breathing dragon, or worse. Though, there probably wasn't anything worse than a dragon spitting fire all over the place.

  "It'll only take a second," said James. He stuck the paperclip into the keyhole and jiggled it. What happened next didn't surprise anyone except James as a huge mouth with long, sharp teeth appeared where the lid and the bottom of the chest met. It snapped and snarled. James barely leaped back in time to avoid becoming its snack. "Holy—!"

  "I warned you," said Chase, grinning at James as he scrambled across the floor like a huge crab and the chest returned to normal.

  James glared at him. "Real funny. Ha ha."

  "As I was saying," said Janie, smiling and shaking her head, "maybe we should look for some keys."

  They scoured the ship, searching every nook, cranny, deck and cabin.

  "I give up," said Chase as he, Andy and James each flopped into a hammock. He folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. "Doesn't look like they're anywhere around here."

  "Yeah," said Andy, clinging to the sides of his hammock so he wouldn't flip over. "And I could use a nap now."

  "What a waste of time!" snarled James.

  Five minutes later they heard Janie yelling, "Hey! We found something!"

  The girls thudded across the deck and clambered down the ladder. Persephone, waving a golden ring with a clunky brass key jingling on it, paused. "Have you guys been lounging down here the whole time?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  The boys scrambled to stand, which wasn't easy with the twisty, swinging hammocks. Andy and James managed to land on their feet, but Chase ended up in a heap on the floor. "Ow! Uh…no. We've been looking too."

  "Boys!" muttered Janie under her breath.

  "Where was it?" asked Andy, putting on his best not-guilty face.

  "Stashed under a cushion in the captain's cabin," answered Persephone. She strode to a chest, then scuttled away. "Uh, who wants to try it?"

  "Not me," said Chase.

  "I guess I'll volunteer," said Janie, acting brave, but looking like she'd rather be lounging safely on the beach. "I'm a pretty fast runner." Handing Maxwell to Persephone, she took the key, carefully inserted it into one of the locks and twisted it. The lock gave a loud click. Janie let out the breath she'd been holding. "Oh my gosh! I am so glad that worked."

  Chase hurried to the chest and tugged open the heavy lid. "It's empty!" He yanked the key from the hole and unlocked the rest. The other kids rushed to raise the lids.

  "Another empty!"

  "This one too."

  "Nothing here either."

  "Are they all empty?" Chase asked, looking disappointed.

  "Looks like," said James. He stared at the chests with disgust. "Then why were they all locked?"

  "Who knows," said Chase, "but they must be here for a reason."

  "Maybe they're magical and you need to ask them for what you want," said Janie. She closed a lid. "I would like—a bunch of fuzzy slippers." She reopened it. "Nothing! Sorry, Maxwell."

  Meanwhile, Andy had climbed into another chest. BAM! The lid shut by itself.

  Persephone jumped. "What was that?"

  "And where's Andy?
" said Chase, scanning the dusky hold.

  "I saw him standing there," said Janie, pointing to a blue chest in the corner.

  Chase rushed to throw back the lid. It was empty. "What the heck? Where did he go?"

  "Shh. Do you hear something?" Janie waved her hand at him as she walked toward the hatch.

  They stood quietly and heard a distant yell. "Chase! Janie! I'm in the treehouse!"

  Hurrying up the ladder, they dashed across the deck and down the gangplank. Their clattering footsteps echoed in the cavernous room. Andy waved from a very high walkway, but when they skidded to a stop at the bottom of the tree, they saw no way of climbing it.

  Stepping back, Chase looked up at Andy. "There's no ladder!" he called. "How did you get up there?"

  "I don't know!" said Andy, leaning over the railing. "I got in a treasure chest and was thinking how cool and fun the treehouse looked. The lid slammed shut and next thing I knew, I was here. Wait a sec, I think I can walk on the clouds and catch a ride in the balloon!"

  "I don't think that's a good idea—"

  Andy jumped from the walkway and began hopping from cloud to cloud, but right before he reached the dangling basket, he vanished into the mist.

  "Oh no! What now?" cried Chase.

  Five seconds later, Andy burst from the dragon's mouth, flew through the air and plopped into a cushiony armchair by the fireplace.

  "Oh, man! How fun was that!" he exclaimed, scrambling from the chair. "I wanna do it some more."

  "Andy! Don't scare me like that again!" Chase snapped.

  "So do you think those chests are some kind of teleporters or something?" Janie asked.

  "Beats me," said James, "but I'm checking it out. Come on."

  They all raced back to the ship and zipped down the ladder. James jumped into a red chest. "A fighting power room!"

  "You didn't go anywhere," said Chase after a few seconds of holding his breath.

  "I know! I know!" James snapped. He jumped out and slammed the lid.

  "Maybe you need to be more exact," said Persephone.

  Janie nodded. "You probably have to know exactly where you're going."

  "Let's see," said Chase, leaping into a purple chest. "The Premonition Room." The lid banged shut.