“Good idea,” said Daphna. “I just can’t believe you can read that book. Are the pages still changing?”
Dex hadn’t thought of that. It would be just perfect if they’d stopped. If so, whether or not the book actually belonged to God wouldn’t matter in the least. It would be useless to him. He’d have to depend on his sister, and he knew he couldn’t handle that.
Dex opened the book fearing the worst, but to his relief, saw that indeed, he could still read it. The words must still be moving. His mood lifted immediately at the sight of actual, discernible letters. It was exhilarating to look at a word and not have to guess what it said. He was more than willing to start this “crash course” now. Maybe he could find something that would enable him to read for good.
If the universe was as truly random as it seemed, how could he continue to be the unluckiest person in the world? If there were a God, he would have to be personally, actively messing things up for him if his luck never changed. Wasn’t the definition of ‘luck’ that it changed? Of course, Daphna would probably say something like eventually everyone had to live a life of all bad luck. It would be just his luck if this one were his.
They were agreed, so the twins went off to their rooms and hunkered down.
Daphna, sitting at her orderly white desk, opened to the first page of the Ledger. She’d already gotten two words to work: she could choke people, and she could teleport. But she’d tried a whole lot of other words with no success at all. Of course, she was rested now.
Daphna chose a Word and pronounced it as slowly and clearly as she could. When nothing happened, she repeated it. She tried three more times, and when still nothing happened, she moved on to the next.
Daphna fully expected the process to be difficult, so when the next Word failed after three attempts, she moved on again. This new Word failed as well, but Daphna didn’t lose heart. She forged ahead, trying Word after Word, working her way methodically into the heart of the Ledger.
Dex swept an arm over the top of his desk, clearing CD’s, odd-shaped rocks, aborted drawings and the random innards of dozens of old mechanical devices. He set the book down and sat in front of it with a serious, almost studious look on his face. It was an expression he wouldn’t have recognized.
Ready, Dex turned to the first page of the Book of Nonsense, figuring it was probably different than the last time he looked at it. This was going to be difficult.
Finding any Words from the First Tongue was obviously a matter of chance, thanks to his mother’s quick thinking who knew how many thousands of years ago. Yes, he’d seen two Words there already, but the vast majority could be anything. The only option was to try every one and see what happened. Dex, focused and intense, leaned down over the page.
He sounded out the first one. Nothing doing.
Wild, violent stress flooded Dex’s system. Despite the fact he expected failure at all times, when it came, it always threatened to annihilate him. Lately, he’d been dealing with frustration well, so he forced himself to let it pass. It was way too early to quit.
Dex tried the second word, and when nothing happened, he managed to press on.
“Check this out!”
“Ah!” Dex clutched his chest. His sister was suddenly standing next to him. Despite having no success whatsoever, he’d been absorbed in the book for over an hour, but not too absorbed to hear the basement door opening and someone coming down the steps.
“Sorry!” Daphna apologized. “Sorry. I’ve got that teleport Word working again.”
“Obviously,” Dex gasped, patting his heart.
“I went back to the R & R,” Daphna explained, “to check on Evelyn. She was running around looking for us, but that’s not what I want to tell you. Check this out. Wait, first, look over there, across the room.”
When Dex looked at his mess of a bed, Daphna uttered a bizarre Word that sounded like a mouthful of t’s and z’s.
Dex blinked, waiting for—he didn’t know what. He half expected the bed to start levitating or maybe fall away through a hole into alternate dimensions.
“Well?” he said, scanning the drifts and shoals of junk on the floor for something more subtle.
“Look at me,” commanded a man’s low voice.
“Ahhh!” Dex, this time nearly crippled with fright, scrambled out of his chair and stumbled backwards across the room. Daphna was gone, and in her place stood the twins’ father, Milton Wax. Bushy browed, gray and slightly stooped, he looked the way he always had, at least up until last night.
“No!” Milton cried, looking aghast at having caused his son such panic. “It’s me, Daphna!”
“Who—Wha—?” Dex was backed up against the wall, calculating the odds of successfully charging his father, knocking him down and making a break for the steps. He couldn’t process what was just said. Something about Daphna? But then Milton repeated the bizarre Word, and suddenly Daphna stood in his place again.
Dex, thoroughly flummoxed, was left staring.
“Isn’t it incredible?” Daphna gushed, sounding like herself again. “It was a total accident. See, I went over to the R & R when I couldn’t get any new Words to work, to take a break. When I got back, I tried this one Word, and I guess I was thinking about Dad. Actually, I was thinking about how when we told him we already knew the First Tongue, and all about his phony plan to make Heaven on Earth, he said something weird, like—I’m not exactly sure, but the gist of it was—”
“He said we didn’t quite express his aspirations correctly and that even the smallest words matter.”
“How do you do that?” Daphna asked.
Dex shrugged.
“Anyway,” Daphna said, “I was thinking about that, and about who he really is and what his plan might actually be. And then I was wishing he could just be Dad again, the way he was, even if he wasn’t the greatest father in the history of the world. Anyway, I happened to look in my mirror when I was thinking of him and saw that I looked just like him. I think I can look like anyone! It doesn’t last very long, though. I turned back after, like, five minutes. Sorry for scaring you again.”
Dex, his chest still seizing from the second shock, let out a slow breath.
“You’re going to give me a heart-attack,” he complained, walking back to his desk. But he was amazed. In fact, he was too amazed even for jealousy. It was absolutely incredible.
“Show me how,” he said.
“Well,” Daphna offered, “think of someone and then just say this—” She repeated the Word, this time thinking about herself to avoid changing again.
Dex tried it, but the neutral look on his sister’s face told him he hadn’t transmogrified into Muhammad Ali.
“Try it again,” Daphna suggested. Dex tried it again, but got the same non-result, and the third time was no better.
“Hmm,” Daphna mused. She knew very well that her brother’s darkening expression meant this little tutoring session was about to be terminated. “Here, try the one that lets me teleport,” she said, risking making things worse. Daphna shared the Word, a long vowelly one that sounded somehow Scandinavian.
Dex mimicked it as best he could, to no avail. “Forget it,” he said, turning away.
“Did you find anything new?” Daphna asked, but she cringed as soon as the words escaped her lips.
“No,” Dex said shortly, “and I must’ve tried five hundred words.”
“But you don’t know which are from the First Tongue, right? None of them could be.” Again, Daphna cringed. She couldn’t annoy Dex more if she tried. “Wait a minute,” she said, “you froze Evelyn, and you made yourself invisible in the ABC—try that again.”
Dex, controlling the urge to trash his room for the millionth time in his life, spoke the Word for Invisibility. He vanished.
“It worked!” Daphna cheered, amazed to see her brother dematerialize. Actually, she didn’t see it. It happened too quickly. “Come back,” she said.
Dexter repeated the Word, and suddenly there he was
, looking considerably less sour.
Daphna tried the Word, but she didn’t disappear. “Did I say it right?” she asked.
“Yeah,” said Dex. “I think so.”
Daphna tired it again, but again failed to disappear. “I was right,” she concluded.
“About what?”
“Think about it. The kids on the Council studied the First Tongue for years! The Words are very difficult to pronounce, remember? I’ve tried a ton of them and only gotten a few to work, and they don’t work for very long. We’ve just gotten lucky so far. We’re different, so we’ve gotten lucky with different Words. This means we’re not going to be able to learn much, Dex, not without a heck of a lot more than six days practice. Hey, I just had another thought—”
“What?” Dexter asked.
“What if the First Tongue can’t be learned out loud? What if you have to read Words of Power even to have a chance to use them?”
“That would figure,” Dex sighed, “but you must be right because that would be another reason the kids had to learn Words of Power out of the Book of Nonsense themselves.”
“But why can’t Dad learn it?” Daphna asked. “I still don’t understand. What if he’s pretending? And I threatened him!”
“No,” said Dex. “I don’t think he can. If he could, why would he have needed the kids? And why would his plan ever have gotten messed up?”
“But he had the Book of Nonsense,” Daphna replied. “He could have taught it to himself. Dad’s not blind, Dex.”
A strange, furrowed look was drawing over Dexter’s face.
What?” Daphna asked. “You just figured something out. What is it?”
“I’m positive Adem Tarik can’t speak the First Tongue,” Dex declared, “and he never will, either.”
“What? Why?”
“He can’t learn Words of Power,” Dex explained, “because he can’t read them. He has whatever I have, Daphna—at least when it comes to the First Tongue.”
“But—” Daphna said. “Is that possible?”
“I don’t know if it’s possible,” Dexter replied. “I only know it’s true.”
“Okay,” Daphna said. “That’s really good, Dex. Just let me see if I can understand everything.”
“Okay.”
“The Book of Nonsense—where it came from doesn’t really matter,” Daphna said. “Anyway, Dad—Adem Tarik, I mean. I can’t call him Dad anymore, either. He somehow finds it a few thousand years ago. Even though he can’t read it himself, he somehow knows what it is. He recruits some genius kids—”
“Thirty-six—”
“Right. And tells them they’ll learn the First Tongue and make Heaven on Earth.”
“Or something like that—”
“Right. Anyway, Rash and Ruby start a war among the kids and everything goes haywire. Mom charms the book so it’ll change forever and then it gets lost. So Adem Tarik has no book and no genius kids.”
“Keep going,” Dexter urged.
“Everyone searches for the book, but it’s Dad who actually finds it. Only it’s not much use changing all the time, even if he could read it like you can. So he finds this Fiker guy—”
“Fikret Cihan—”
“He finds this Fikret Cihan guy’s grandfather and makes him spend his whole life copying it while he works on a new plan, which is to have new kids learn the First Tongue, his own kids this time—”
“Wait, Daphna,” Dex said, “like you just said, he wanted the kids to learn the First Tongue. Now he wants us to. He said so last night. It can’t be the right thing to do!”
“But—” The undeniable logic in this gave Daphna pause, but she’d committed herself to learning as many Words of Power as she could. After a moment, she saw why it was still the thing to do.
“But he probably thinks we don’t know he can’t speak it himself,” she said. “Oh, gosh, I almost told him, didn’t I? He probably figures he can control us by scaring us. Oh, man,” Daphna snarled, “he’s in for a serious surprise. I don’t care how long it takes, I’m going to master it all and wipe him out.”
“So that’s why I can’t read,” Dex whispered. He didn’t hear his sister’s last comment or her vicious tone. His mind was suddenly somewhere far away. He didn’t even realize he’d spoken out loud.
Daphna paused a moment, thinking she ought to acknowledge that this discovery might be important for her brother, but before she could think of what to say, the sound of sirens and the screeching of tires sent both twins into immediate distress.
They stood motionless, barely breathing, hoping the sounds would fade away. They did, but only to be replaced by car doors slamming, and then, moments later, heavy pounding on the front door upstairs.
CHAPTER 17
like father, like daughter
“Kids! Kids!” It was Evelyn. “I’ve got the police here with me! Kids! Are you in there?”
The twins looked helplessly at one another as the pounding on the door continued. Finally, Daphna said something, and the next thing Dex knew, he was looking at his father again. He nodded, spoke a Word and vanished.
Daphna had no idea what she was going to do, but she hurried up the steps, assuming her brother was behind her. She passed through the kitchen, crossed the living room to the front door and opened it.
“Milton!” Evelyn cried. Two uniformed officers stood beside her. Daphna didn’t acknowledge them at first because her attention had been drawn to the squad car parked outside. In the back seat sat a sullen boy in handcuffs. It was one of Antin’s goons. Eyeballs, they’d called him.
“Milton!” Evelyn said again, “what in the world is going on?”
“Um,” said Daphna, turning back to her, “I guess there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“My name is Officer Richards,” said one of the cops. He had deeply in-set eyes and a farmer’s sun-baked skin. “This is my partner, Officer Madden.” Officer Madden was thick shouldered, middle aged and intense.
When Daphna didn’t respond with anything but a nervous smile, Richards said, “We’d like to come in, sir, and ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.”
“Ah, yes,” Daphna hurriedly replied. “Sure. Come in.” She felt certain it was obvious to everyone she wasn’t her father, but how could it be? Daphna turned and led them all inside, remembering just in time to limp. Everyone took seats.
“Milton,” Evelyn said yet again, “What is going on? You disappeared from the Home last night! We’ve been worried sick. The kids looked shell-shocked, and—this is all so strange—I went to talk to them this morning, and, I don’t know, they must have run out. Seeing you here makes me worried this all has something to do with that horrible tragedy in the park with Daphna’s reading group. And we know Latty is gone, and now the police—I called them again when the kids disappeared, and on our way here we were sent to pick up this boy, Eyeball, or whatever he calls himself, who seems to have gotten a hold of part of your money. The mattress—”
“I’m really sorry,” Daphna said. “I can explain.”
But she couldn’t explain. Frantic thoughts were leaping around her head. She could only manage to stare at Evelyn, who was staring back, expectantly. Everyone in the room was staring expectantly, leaning forward, waiting for her to speak. But Daphna simply couldn’t think of anything to say.
The tension grew oppressive. No one even moved. It was like they were all trying to make her crack.
Someone else talk! Daphna nearly screamed.
“They’re frozen,” said Dex’s disembodied voice. He reappeared in the middle of the room.
Daphna nearly disintegrated with relief. She hadn’t heard Dex say his Word.
“That’s why they’re all just staring at me like that!” she cried. “Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
“I was trying to think of something,” Dex snapped. “I thought you knew what you were doing.”
“How am I supposed to know what I’m doing, Dexter? Why is it always up to
me?”
“Who says it’s always up to you?”
“Look, just forget it. What am I going to say? They’re not going to stay frozen for very long. And these are cops, Dexter.”
“Thanks for pointing that—Wait a second,” said Dex, “they busted that Eyeballs kid out there, so they know we got robbed, right? Tell them the whole gang broke in here yesterday and held us up with knives, which is the truth, anyway. Tell them—tell them we called Dad and Latty at the R & R after the gang left, and they rushed home to us—And, and—”
“And when he—I mean I,” Daphna said, “when I got home, I told you and Daphna to go right back to the R & R where you’d be safe in case the goons came back. Then Latty and I went searching for them all night. That’s perfect!”
The group in the room was beginning to make small movements. The cops were twitching. Evelyn was shifting in her chair.
“Okay, let’s do it,” Daphna said. “They’re coming out of it.”
Dex whispered two Words. The first made him vanish, the second brought the room back to life.
“Milton?” Evelyn said.
Daphna, very calmly, began sharing the story she and Dex had just concocted. Halfway through, she realized she’d have to explain Latty’s absence, but an idea came to her right away.
She explained that Latty had gotten herself one of those fancy recreational vehicles to travel the country, and the four of them were going to take a trip together while Milton finished recuperating. Latty was already living in it to get used to it, and that was why her stuff was out of the house. Afterward, she was going to retire and continue to travel on her own. After all, Milton was retiring too. She really wouldn’t be needed anymore.
It seemed that this was going over pretty well, which gave Daphna confidence. In fact, Evelyn couldn’t conceal a twinkle of pleasure in her eyes at this last bit of news.
“My goodness,” Evelyn said, “I—this is all so—”
“I’m sorry if the kids ran out on you,” Daphna interrupted. “That was rude, but they ran back here to check on us. I decided to send Latty and the kids off on a trip without me so things could get worked out here safely. They’ll be back before school starts next week. They were still a little shaken.”
Book of Knowledge Page 13