Suddenly, flashing gold shafts of light shot from the Relic and right into Nori's chest.
"Holy Frankenstein!" yelled Andy.
"Nori!" shouted Persephone. "What's happening?"
"I don't know! I—oh my gosh!"
The beams shot out in all directions. Boom! Nori flew backward and flopped to the floor, where she lay unmoving. The other kids were all knocked sideways by the reverberations.
The attic went completely black.
CHAPTER SIX
The Symbols
Chase froze. What had just happened? He could hear Nori panting and gasping. At least she's still alive. And she isn't glowing anymore, he thought. But why isn't the Relic glowing—the one thing that should be?
He sat up and rubbed his bashed elbow. Ohcrapohcrapohcrap. Why did everything always get so out of control? Grandfather had trusted Chase with this one special chore, and he'd screwed it up. What if something awful had happened to his cousin?
"We have to get to Nori." Persephone's quavering voice came from somewhere off to his left. "She sounds like she's hurt. Chase?"
"I'm right over here. Trying not to panic."
"Good," said Persephone. "I'm panicking enough for the both of us." She sounded ready to hyperventilate.
"I can't see anything," said Andy. "I don't want to move around too much and step on Nori."
"We have to figure out how to turn the Relic back on." Chase heaved a deep sigh. "It's not like it has a button to push, though."
The Relic couldn't seriously be broken, could it? It wasn't possible. But if it was, shouldn't his powers be fading? Or starting to drain out of him, or something? He thought about testing a few, but for the life of him, he couldn't remember any.
"Maybe Grandfather knows," said Andy, sounding hopeful.
"Yeah!" said Persephone. "Someone go get him. Too bad the attic is teleport-proof."
"Chase, why don't you feel around for the door," said Andy.
"Great!" said Chase. "That's all Grandfather needs to hear. Hey, sorry we broke the Relic and got Nori hurt, thanks for not zapping us to the highest mountain peak and leaving us there to rot." He wanted to throw something, but the attic wasn't exactly loaded with objects to toss around.
"We can't sit here all day like a bunch of idiots!' said Persephone. "Besides, Nori might need a doctor."
Chase opened his mouth to answer, but stopped when he noticed a faint glow coming from the Relic, like a small golden heart had started to beat in the center of it. It grew brighter and brighter, until dazzling light burst from it and the whole attic was again blanketed in its warm golden radiance.
"Yes!" exclaimed Chase, punching the air with his fist.
"Whew!" said Andy. He swiped his hand across his forehead. "Am I happy to see all that glowing again."
Persephone rushed to Nori's side. "Are you okay? Can you move?"
Nori gulped. "Yeah, but barely," she choked out. She sounded like she'd been punched in the stomach. "That sucked!"
"You scared the heck out of us!" said Persephone.
"It scared me, too," said Nori as Chase and Persephone helped her to her feet. "I—I guess I underestimated its power."
"You look like you saw a ghost," said Andy. "And your orange hair is all fluffy."
Nori quickly smoothed down her hair with shaking hands as Persephone asked, "So after all that, were you able to absorb what the symbols mean?"
Nori nodded, then frowned. "Though, these seemed…incomplete."
"Might be some on the Shard the Marlowes have," said Chase.
Persephone snapped her fingers. "What about the inscriptions on the stone door leading to the chamber where Jedadiah found the Relic? If we asked the Relic to show it again, could you read those, too?"
"After what just happened? No thanks. I'm staying far away from that thing from now on."
"So?" said Chase. "What did these ones say?"
Nori clamped her lips between her teeth and jerked her head from side to side.
"You do remember, don't you?" said Persephone.
"Yeah, but I can't—" She turned and darted to the door. Yanking it open, she stumbled from the attic. The other kids exchanged worried glances before hurrying after her.
Out in the alcove, the spiral stairs still twirled upward. Nori crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Would someone please get these going the other way? I'd like to go home."
Chase waved his hands in the air. "Haven't we been through this before? You can't always run away when something happens around here that freaks you out."
"Just fix the stairs," she said through gritted teeth.
Chase crossed his arms and leaned against the rail. "No! Nothing's happening until you tell us why you're acting this way."
Persephone patted Nori's arm. "Ignore him," she said, glaring at Chase. "We're curious about the inscriptions, is all. Can't you tell us something?"
Nori strode to the oval window and stared out at the rain-drenched Puget Sound. "No, I can't."
"What? Did the Relic fry your brain or something?" asked Chase, frowning and propping his fists on his hips.
"Oh, my brain's perfectly fine. What I'm saying is, I can't tell you."
Chase stomped in a circle. "This is crazy! Why not?" Was Nori really refusing to tell them what she'd read? "Okay, then we'll be up here a long time, because no one's leaving until we know what you know."
Nori swung back around. "If I tell you anything," she said, speaking to him as if he were a three-year-old, "you will want to know even more."
Andy sidled closer to Chase. "Uh, won't we get awfully hungry if we're up here too long? And what if I have to pee?" he whispered.
Chase elbowed him in the shoulder. "Don't be difficult," he mumbled out of the side of his mouth.
"I'm not difficult," said Andy, scowling.
"I don't think it's right," Chase continued, "you know something and we don't. After all, we've shared the house and all the magic with you. Why would it hurt to share this?"
"You have no idea." Nori looked like she thought tying Chase up and gagging him would be an excellent idea. But she also knew he was too stubborn to let it go. "All right! Whatever! I'll tell you one thing! They're destinies. There. Happy now?"
"Destinies?" Persephone said, her eyes widening. "Whose?"
"Ours. The Tinker family's," answered Nori. "And yours."
"Mine?" said Persephone with confusion. "But I'm not a Tinker."
Nori shrugged. "I'm telling you what I saw."
"So these—destiny things," said Chase, looking unsure as to whether he believed Nori or not. "Are they like premonitions?"
Nori shook her head. "No. Those can change. They aren't prophecies, either, because those usually have to be deciphered. But a destiny says exactly what's supposed to take place, and it's meant to happen. No matter what. You can't stop it." She paused before saying, "Each symbol and squiggle on there represents someone's destiny."
"Okay then, what are our destinies?" asked Chase.
"I can't tell you!"
"Why the heck not?" said Chase, frowning so deeply his eyebrows touched. "Did you see the end of the world or something?"
Nori paced the floor and twisted her fingers together. "Or something."
"What do you mean 'or something'?" said Persephone, her voice raising several octaves. "Is someone going to die? Are the Marlowes going to take over the house? You can't just spit out a little information and then not give details."
"Persephone's right! You have to tell us everything you read on there!" Chase was ready to seriously freak out, and apparently so was Persephone.
"I told you, I can't!" snapped Nori. "No one should know too much about their future. It's not a good thing." She blew out a puff of air. "I knew if I told you they're our destinies you wouldn't stop until I told you what they are."
Persephone paced the floor and tugged on the ends of her hair. "Destinies. Oh. My. God. You know our
futures. This is so bizarre! Wait! Mom!" Persephone grabbed Nori's arm. "Did you see something bad happening to my mom?"
Nori jerked her arm away and rubbed the red marks made by Persephone's fingernails. "I don't know! I told you I can't say." She looked like tears were going to pour down her face at any second. The last time Chase had seen Nori this upset was when she'd had the premonition about Andy nearly dying, but now he didn't know if it was because they were bugging her about the destinies or because of what she'd learned from them.
Chase raked his hands through his orange hair several times, until it stood completely on end. He looked like a mad scientist. "So you know everything that's going to happen to us in the future. Now that's just wrong!"
"Not everything," said Nori. "Just…a bunch of important things."
"Whatever! I still don't want you knowing any future crap about me!" Chase's voice had risen so high, he sounded like a squeaky chipmunk.
"I can't exactly help it, now can I?" snapped Nori.
"I bet that's why the Relic attacked you," said Chase. "It's because you weren't meant to find out about those things!"
"You need to tell us!" cried Persephone. "Especially if it saves someone's life."
Nori bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head.
Chase decided to try another tactic. "Since you know all about our futures, in order to even the score, why don't you tell us one of your destinies?"
Nori scuffed her toe on the floor. "I—I don't have any."
Persephone narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, right. You're such a liar."
"And how can that be?" said Chase. He shook his finger at her. "I remember you said 'our destinies,' so you're part of this, too."
"I told you there aren't any!" Nori screamed, her face turning scarlet. "Now let it be!" Fists clenched, she looked ready to punch out both Chase and Persephone.
"Leave her alone, you guys!" yelled Andy. "Don't you get it? She can't tell us anything!" He rushed to Nori's side. "Now turn on those stairs, Chase, or you'll be sorry." Andy's voice trembled as he said this. He pushed his glasses up and rubbed the tears from his eyes with his palms.
Chase had been so involved with trying to get the destinies out of Nori; he'd completely missed how much it was upsetting Andy. "But we need—"
"Shut up and turn on the stairs!"
Chase took a quick step back. "Okay, okay. Defluo." The stairs switched directions.
Persephone's eyebrows drew together. "I didn't know you could do that. You know, you're a fine one to talk about someone not sharing. Did you want me to look like an idiot earlier thinking Mr. Hiram turned them on?"
"No! Of course not."
"You can be such a jerk!" snapped Persephone.
Chase blinked. This was a strange turn of events. One moment he and Persephone were on the same side; the next, he's a secretive jerk. And now Andy was mad at him again, too. No matter what I do, thought Chase, I can't win.
"So, after you," said Persephone politely, gesturing to the stairs.
"No, no," said Chase, his voice filled with the same politeness. "I wouldn't think of it. Girls should always go first."
"But your magic turned them on."
"But my mom taught me to always be nice to girls."
Nori grasped Andy's arm and pushed past them. "Oh, forget this. You two can stay up here all afternoon driving each other nuts for all I care, but Andy and I are hungry." She and Andy hopped onto the twirling stairs. "We'll let them be jerks together," she whispered into Andy's ear.
Andy glanced back over his shoulder. "Yeah. Bullies!"
Chase jumped onto the stairs backward. He stuck his tongue out at Persephone right before she disappeared from view.
"Real mature as usual, Tinker!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the room.
When they all reached the bottom of the stairs, Nori turned to the others. "You know what? I will tell you one thing." She stuck her hands into her back pockets and stared at the checkerboard floor. "We've all wondered why the Tinkers were the ones to find the Relic and gain all the magic from it."
The other three kids nodded. They'd all discussed it until their heads were ready to explode, but they were never able to come up with any reasonable explanations. They waited for her to continue.
"Well?" said Chase.
"Well, what? Don't you get it? It's because we were destined to," Nori answered.
"So you're saying it was, like, written in the stars?" said Chase.
"No, dork, it's written on the Relic," said Nori impatiently. "Plus, when you went back in time, you weren't meant to change what happened. The Relic was going to be damaged no matter what you did. You all wasted your time."
Chase's eyes met Persephone's. "That's kind of what Persephone told us afterward. Some things are meant to be, and they can't be changed, no matter how hard you try."
"There you go," said Nori with a wave of her hand. "Destinies. We're destined to be in charge of a slightly damaged Relic, and to keep it safe. Even if it means battling with the Marlowes and getting hurt and…other things." Her eyes lingered for a long moment on Andy's scarred face. She looked back at Chase and Persephone standing there gaping at her. "And you guys are—"
"Are what?" Chase and Persephone said together, looking leery.
"You guys—just need to work things out. That's it! I'm done. Come on, Andy."
Chase and Persephone watched them walk away.
"What do you think she meant by that?" asked Persephone, frowning.
"I dunno," said Chase. "But if there's a way to get to the bottom of all that destiny crap, I'm sure as heck gonna find it."
CHAPTER SEVEN
Frustrations Galore
"Have you guys seen Persephone?" asked Chase. "I need to ask her something about my schoolwork."
He didn't want to talk to either Andy or Nori after the attic debacle, but he also didn't want to search the whole house for Persephone. Summer school was starting tomorrow and his mom had asked her to tutor Chase, which he wasn't happy about at all. He didn't like Persephone thinking he was a total dunce, even if he did need a bunch of help with his math.
Nori glanced up from the book she was reading—the normal way. Andy had asked her once why she did that and she'd said sometimes she just needed to enjoy a good book the same way as regular people.
"She's on a date," she answered nonchalantly.
"A date?" Chase exclaimed. "Persephone's not old enough to date."
"Sure she is," said Nori. "She'll be fifteen in a couple months."
"But—but with who?"
"With whom."
"That's what I'm asking you!" Chase blew out a puff of air.
"No, you—oh forget it," she said under her breath. "I don't know him personally, but she told me his name's Josh Reynolds."
"The tenth grade soccer player? What the heck does she see in him?" Chase shoved his hands into his pockets. "He's nothing but a popular jerk."
Nori shrugged and gave him an I-wouldn't-know-anything-about-it look. "She seemed excited when he called."
"I think she likes him," piped in Andy, finally noticing something besides his television program.
"Of course she likes him, silly," said Nori, rolling her eyes. "She wouldn't go out with him if she didn't." She turned to Chase and raised her eyebrows. "What's it to you, anyway?"
"Well—I—" Chase racked his brains to find a good reason why it would matter to him whether Persephone was on a date or not.
Nori flicked her hand at him. "Maybe you better relax before all your hair falls out."
Brushing his fingers through his thick locks, Chase glanced at his watch. "But it's past nine o'clock. Shouldn't she be home by now?"
"I think your mom told her to be home by eleven," said Nori, turning back to her book.
Chase trudged from the room. Home by eleven. Hmpf! What in the world could they possibly be doing for all that time? It's not like Blackberry Island was the entert
ainment capital of the world. Not like New York City, where things happened every moment of every day.
Up in his room, Chase stomped around, kicking shoes and other items out of his way. As usual, most of his belongings were on the floor instead of in the closet or the dresser.
He threw himself onto his bed and stared at the planets and stars drifting across the deep-blue ceiling. Watching them made him think of the so-called destinies again. He had serious doubts about how valid they actually were. No way was it possible for all those weird scratches on the Relic to tell the future. The whole thing was ridiculous. I don't plan on being trapped by some weird old sayings made up by some idiot hundreds of years ago, Chase thought angrily. Forget that. His future would be what he made of it.
Still, Nori had said one thing that made sense: the Tinkers were meant to take care of the Relic. Of course, the Relic had already told them this last summer when they'd asked it about the Dark Enemy.
After a while, he closed his eyes and tried not to think about anyone's destiny, or what Persephone and Josh the Jerk were doing on their date. Maybe Josh would embarrass himself by spilling soda in his lap, or hopefully all his floppy hair would fall out. With these happy thoughts floating through his mind, Chase drifted off to sleep…
He heard screaming. Screaming so piercing, it hurt to listen. It wasn't long before he realized the screams came from him. They tore from somewhere deep inside and out into the world, leaving his throat feeling as if a thousand stinging ants had marched through it. But why was he screaming? And then it hit him: an agony so great it was a wonder he was able to live through it.
He struggled to get away, but he was barely able to move. It was as if tight bands of steel were wrapped around his entire body, and then eyes resembling chips of cold, blue crystal appeared above him. They were embedded in a cruel, smiling face. "Do it again," said the face's deep, raspy voice. "I don't think you got it all. When we're finished, bring in another. We're nearly ready for our final plan."
Chase Tinker and the HOUSE OF DESTINY Page 5