The Ravens of Solemano or The Order of the Mysterious Men in Black

by Eden Unger Bowditch

  After several long minutes, during which it felt as if they were walking in circles that slowly spiraled downward, they came to a large set of doors. The doors must have been ten feet high, with huge iron hinges and a set of gears that was surely a locking system. Along the center, between the two doors, was a thick metal astragal. While it is not unusual for a set of doors to have an astragal—the strip or folded molding often found between two doors—it was unusual for the astragal to have a rounded groove running up its center. Perhaps it was decorative, thought Faye, running her finger along it. It was smooth where almost everything else was rough.

  Wallace, too afraid to move forward, noticed a round carving on the right-hand door. It looked familiar to him. It was like the carvings he had seen along the passageway

  “Lucy!” said Jasper as his little sister ran up to the door and knocked. The sound of her knock was a tiny whisper. The door must have been so thick that no sound could penetrate, not even a knock.

  The wide-brimmed man looked down at Lucy. She looked up at him and, as only Lucy could, seemed to understand his wordless gaze. She stepped back into Miss Brett’s skirt and clung to her teacher, her eyes never leaving the mysterious man in black.

  The man reached up and pulled a small metal tong from the hinge of the door on the left. He inserted it into a small hole in the door on the right, and a click sounded. He then turned a small metal bar that, in turn, flipped open a small hatch in the center of the door on the right. He flipped the hatch door, which then turned a gear that turned another gear and opened another hatch a bit lower than the first. Inside this hatch was a key.

  The key fit into the first hatch, and from that snapped an opening in which there appeared to be an iron dragon or bird carved in the center. The man pulled out the dragon or bird, and it swung on a hinge. It was this hinge that allowed the dragon to become a knocker. Hitting against the iron frame, it made a loud clang that echoed through the entire passage.

  “Now, that’s handy,” said Noah, his ears ringing.

  Not more than a moment later, great grinding and clanking could be heard as the doors began to open. Miss Brett could see that the doors were more than a foot thick. She reached around and pulled Wallace and Lucy near her. She grabbed Noah’s shirt collar and pulled him closer, too. Jasper and Faye stood staring at the door, neither one within her reach.

  Suddenly, Miss Brett wanted to run. She wanted to take the children and run as far as she could. The urge was strong enough to make her feet tingle. Gulping, she stood firm, holding the children close. The doors opened wider until the gears and grinding came to a halt.

  In front of them was a huge room. It looked like something from a medieval castle. On the left was an enormous wooden table, set beautifully with festive ornaments. At the far wall, on the right, was a giant fireplace. A roaring fire glowed from there, warming the whole room. Not far from the fireplace was a beautiful, ornate bird perch. On it sat a shiny black raven. The bird began chattering the moment the children entered. Across from the fireplace, against the corner, was a giant tree, resplendent with candles and tinsel and trinkets.

  “It’s the tree,” said Lucy staring up at the amazing tree. It was the second tree they had watched the mysterious men in black cut down. “And look, a raven!” she cried, pulling the bird from the perch and hugging him close to her body. The bird, strangely, did not object. “You look so much like Mr. Corvino. He must be your brother. I miss him. He’s been away for days.” Lucy snuggled against the bird’s breast. Faye and Miss Brett chose not even to look at each other.

  There were tapestries and carpets to help keep the cold stone from chilling the air. There were large velvet chairs and sofas around the fire. There were hallways leading off on either side of the fireplace, and from each side of the room. But there was no one else in the room—no one, that is, except a tiny, ancient lady sitting in a chair, warming her hands at the fire. She did not seem to notice the children’s arrival.

  Miss Brett, still flanked by her charges and finding it difficult to move with them surrounding her, managed to step toward the woman. She could hear the old lady mumbling to herself, as if she were continuing a conversation she had been having before the other person left.

  “Oh, yes,” she was saying, “I do love a good meringue. And Christmas pudding. Don’t fight over the biscuits, children, and don’t nibble on the treacle tarts, yes? Oh, yes, indeed, doesn’t stop them, does it?”

  “Excuse me,” Miss Brett said softly, not wanting to startle the old woman. But the woman did not seem to hear her. She continued to prattle on about puddings and sweets and children.

  Miss Brett cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” she said louder. But still, the old woman did not respond. Miss Brett turned around to ask the mysterious men in black what was happening, but none was in sight. The men had gone, leaving only her, the children, and the tiny old lady

  Lucy broke away from Miss Brett and ran to the lady. She touched the old woman’s cheek. The woman turned toward her and smiled so broadly, it lit up her entire face.

  “Isobel,” she said in recognition. “My sweet Isobel.”

  “I’m Lucy,” said Lucy.

  “Then we must feed you if you are hungry,” the lady said.

  “I . . .” Lucy began, but then something took her breath away.

  The sound of laughter was the first thing, but it was what followed the laughter that made all the children cry out.

  Walking together, dressed in their Christmas best, came their parents.

  The Drs. Modest, Dr. Banneker, the Drs. Vigyanveta, Dr. Canto-Sagas, and the beautiful Ariana stood before them. Miss Brett moved back toward the door to give space to the children and their parents.

  Lucy ran to her parents. “Mummy! Daddy!” she cried, and allowed herself to be scooped into their arms. Jasper, quite nonplussed, slowly walked over to them. He wasn’t sure how to react. They were there and they were fine, but the ghost of the terror he felt when he thought they had died still lingered in his heart,

  Noah took a moment to register that his mother was there, too. He shook his head, then ran to her.

  “Noah, my boy.” His father joined them in a hug.

  Wallace’s father didn’t give Wallace time to approach. He rushed over and lifted his boy in his arms. “Look at you. I could swear you have grown in just these months.”

  Faye still stood by the door. Her parents stood together by the hearth. They were smiling at her. They were standing there, smiling and expecting her to come bounding over and jump into their loving arms.

  “How could you?’ Faye said quietly, almost to herself. She shook her head. “How could you?” she asked, a bit louder.

  “Darling,” her mother said. “Darling, don’t be like that. Not on Christmas.”

  “Marmelo,” her father said, “come to us. We have been missing you.”

  “Really, you’ve been missing me?” Faye could feel the hot anger rising in her cheeks. Now the others were noticing as well. “You’ve been missing me? Maybe if you have been missing me, you’d send a letter or come for a visit or in some other way let me know you were alive!!!” Tears streamed from her face.

  Jasper had reached his parents, but had yet to fall into their embrace. Between the thrill of seeing them and the walk toward them, something had happened inside him. He had been unable to speak for the lump in his throat, but he felt the words Faye spoke as if he had spoken them.

  Noah turned to his parents. “Why didn’t you get in touch?”

  “I’m always in touch,” Ariana said. “I send you cards from every place I go.”

  “I’m sorry, son, but for us, it’s difficult,” his father said.

  “It’s . . . difficult for you?” Noah took this hard. “You mean because you didn’t come to visit us? Because you didn’t know where we were?”

  “We knew where you were, son,” Dr. Ben Banneker said. “We know you are living in the palazzo.”

  “Yes,” Tobias Modest said, lo
oking at Jasper. “You are so clever, Jasper. All of you are. The snowball-throwing machines and the magnets . . .”

  “C’est vrai,” said Isobel Modest. “It is—”

  “You knew what we were doing and where we were living but you didn’t bother to let us know?” Faye was incensed. “You even knew about the snowball machines? Did you ever wonder if perhaps we might worry, or wonder if you were being held captive or been killed or were suffering somewhere? What if we had disappeared and you didn’t know where we went?!”

  “I disappeared,” said Lucy, who had been so busy being embraced that she had not heard a thing,

  “You disappeared?” asked Dr. Isobel Modest. “Ma foi, cherie, how did you disappear?”

  “What is the matter here?” asked Dr. Banneker in his booming voice.

  “Oui, Jasper, what is this?” Dr. Isobel Modest turned to her son.

  “Didn’t you ever think we might be worried?” asked Jasper. He was not sure how to think about this. Had his parents been so thoughtless? Had they truly not cared?

  “Why would you be worried?” asked Ariana, caressing Noah’s face,

  Noah closed his eyes and soaked in the pleasure of his mother’s touch, but it didn’t prevent him from asking, “You didn’t wonder whether we were afraid?” He looked at his father because, after all, Ariana really did not have anything to do with this,

  “Son,” his father began. But upon looking into Noah’s eyes, Clarence Canto-Sagas dropped his head. “No, we didn’t consider that you might be worried.”

  This admission seemed to shake Faye from her fierce indignation, and her face fell. But she was still angry—very angry.

  “Yes, Faye,” her mother said, “we simply didn’t think that you would be worried. We were so busy being worried about you.”

  “Worried about us? We saw you killed!” Faye shouted. “You let us think you were killed, blown up, on the train! Not worried? Are you mad?!”

  “Now, that is not the way a young lady speaks to her mother, marmelo” Dr. Rajeesh Vigyanveta said.

  “We did what was best,” insisted Dr. Banneker.

  “Well, that was bad form,” Jasper said, finding his strength and determination. “We are not simply possessions to be bandied about, tossed, and stored away at whim.”

  “What—what—” His father hesitated. “Utter nonsense to think we . . .”

  “I want to know now,” said Faye. “Are you being held captive?”

  “Captive?” Her mother looked at her father. “Raj?”

  “Such nonsense, my little marmelo,” said Dr. Vigyanveta.

  “Well?” demanded Faye. “Are you free to go?”

  The adults all looked from one to another, as if speaking silently among themselves. None was willing to look into the eyes of one of the children.

  Dr. Banneker cleared his throat. “Well, it’s not as simple as that. Being free to go is not exactly an appropriate way to—”

  “Father.” Wallace pulled back from his father’s strong embrace. “The question is not a difficult one.”

  “Yes, Wallace, it is,” Tobias Modest said. “We are bound by— well, something like an oath, or a deep . . . a long . . . serious . . . well . . .” He faltered.

  “Maybe they made a promise,” Lucy said. She was anxious. She didn’t like the idea of parents being attacked by their children. She didn’t care that she had been heartbroken when her parents were missing or that she missed them terribly. She was afraid that the others might make her parents go away again.

  “Yes,” Dr. Canto-Sagas said, wiping his forehead. “We have, indeed, been a part of a promise that was made long ago.”

  “A promise to keep us believing you were dead?” Faye demanded.

  “No,” Dr. Banneker said loudly. “Not that, but we must—”

  “Why can’t you tell us why?” Faye was no longer just angry. She felt miserable to be left behind and pushed away. “Why?”

  “Because . . .” Faye’s mother put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder

  “Because they cannot tell you anything for your own safety and protection,” Ariana said, a touch, just a touch, of sarcasm in her voice. “Because danger and sinister, hidden truths fill the rooms in which they find themselves detained. Because if they don’t stay, the world may collapse and . . . and . . .” But Ariana’s angelic voice broke and she put her handkerchief to her lips. Her husband and son embraced her as she shook her head in silence. Noah looked into his father’s eyes and saw pleading.

  “I think,” Noah said, still looking at his father, “I think we need to remember this is Christmas.”

  The parents all nodded and, looking at each other, seemed relieved but also guilty

  “You will make a promise to us,” said Jasper. “A promise that you will not abandon us.”

  Isobel gasped. “Mon cher, we never—”

  “Yes, you did. Promise you won’t do that again,” said Jasper.

  “We promise, son,” said Dr. Banneker. “And I respect your demands.”

  Jasper nodded in appreciation, but did not let up. “You will be in touch with us—”

  “Whenever possible,” Dr. Banneker said. “There are times—”

  “Whenever possible,” said Jasper.

  Faye opened her mouth, but then realized it was over. She could not fight this battle—not now. At that moment, she just wanted her parents to hold her. She looked up at first her mother, then her father. She leaned into her mother’s shoulder, and her mother and father both surrounded her with an embrace.

  “We love you,” Noah’s father said, then looked to the other children, too. “We are sorry you have been brought into all this.”

  Miss Brett had been silent. Still standing near the doorway, she kept herself from accusing the parents of neglect and, thus, abuse of the children they supposedly loved. She herself would never have treated her own children this way. But she held her tongue. It was not her place to speak for the children, and besides, they were doing an excellent job speaking for themselves,

  “Miss Bird,” came the booming voice of Dr. Banneker as he leaned toward the tiny old lady. “May you lend me the favor of your arm?” She did, and he walked her over to a comfortable chair near the fire.

  “Why, thank you, Benjamin dear,” she said, patting his hand. “Yes, it has always been hard for you children.”

  Dr. Banneker’s smile faltered, but he was quick to return it when Miss Bird smiled at him.

  “Where are we?” Faye finally asked as the children and their parents, recovered somewhat from the intensity of their initial confrontation, settled into comfortable seats around the fire. Faye’s mother caressed her daughter’s hair, and held Faye’s amulet in her hand. She looked at her husband, who returned the look. Both showed concern.

  Faye felt the necklace around her neck. She had been quick to notice that her mother might ask for it back. But her mother let the amulet fall back into place. Faye looked over at Lucy and Jasper and saw their mother looking at their bracelets too—small things that brought them comfort, things the children clung to when they had little else from their parents.

  Faye looked around the room and wondered again where they could be.

  The ceilings were high, and the room very large. Across the room, on the other side of the table, was where the kitchen must be, because the parents had carried dishes from there.

  “We are deep in the ground,” Dr. Banneker finally said. “The whole of the castle was built into the mountain.”

  “There’s a castle built underground?” said Lucy, fascinated by the idea.

  “I think we’re in it,” Noah said.

  “But where are the men in black?” asked Faye. It did not escape her notice that not a silly black bonnet nor a pair of black bunny ears was in sight.

  “They must be cooking in the kitchen,” Jasper said.

  “Not tonight,” said Dr. Canto-Sagas. He smiled, looking toward the kitchen.

  “Because it’s Christmas?” ask
ed Faye. “They celebrate Christmas?”

  But a clucking and a clatter came from the kitchen. “Saints preserve us,” someone said, “there best be some hungry bellies in this room.”

  The children turned, and there, coming toward them, carrying all manner of dishes, were four people the children were very happy to see, though utterly surprised to find,

  “Rosie!” cried Lucy and Jasper together. And the others, too, jumped up to see their own nannies from back in Dayton.

  “Well, you don’t think they could do a Christmas without your Rosie, do you?” Rosie hugged Jasper and Lucy in her strong, fierce arms. She smelled of nutmeg and cinnamon, and the children were well-crushed in her grasp,

  “The nannies are making Christmas dinner tonight,” Dr. Modest said. “It’s tradition.”

  “Tradition?” said Jasper.

  “Oh, yes,” came the voice of the tiny old lady by the fire. “We have always used fresh butter when we make the apple pie.”

  “Miss Bird.” Dr. Banneker, standing, placed his hand gently on the old woman’s shoulder, bending down at the knees so he was not speaking down to her. “May I bring you a cup of hot chocolate?” He spoke in his loud, booming voice, and spoke so she could look at his face,

  “Oh, that would be lovely, Benjamin,” she said, patting him on the head as if he were a child. “Such a thoughtful boy you are.”

  “Boy?” Wallace said, grinning. “She called my father a boy.”

  Faye’s father jumped up to get the back cushion Miss Bird had accidentally lost.

  “You are a sweet boy, too, my ickle Rajikins.”

  Faye burst into laughter. “She called my father ‘ickle Rajikins’!”

  Dr. Rajesh Vigyanveta laughed, but blushed nonetheless. “Of course she did. To her, we are all still the children she knew.”

  “She knew you all?” said Faye.

  “The golden children.” Miss Bird giggled to herself, tapping the side of her nose. “The gilded children.”

  “Of course she did, dear,” Dr. Gwendolyn Vigyanveta said. “Well, not all of us. I met Miss Bird once your father and I . . . well, after we were married. But your father did.” She looked around the room. “And all of your parents, too,” she said, then quickly looking at her husband. She was relieved when he patted her hand.