by Julia Nobel
“Where have you been all day?” Lola demanded. “Didn’t you get back last night?”
Jack glanced at Brynn and shook his head. “Later.”
“All right, everyone. Let’s get started,” Master Barlowe called out. “Since we’re meeting in the library again, I suggest you use this time to do some research for your essays on how the laws of Elizabeth I are reflected in the writings of Shakespeare. You should all be finishing your outlines and compiling your notes. If, for some inexplicable reason, you have not yet chosen your play,”—he looked straight at Lola—“I would suggest you do that now.”
Everyone started getting out their books.
“Haven’t you picked one yet?” Emmy rooted in her bag for her copy of The Merchant of Venice.
“Nah,” Lola said, “I’ve already read them all, so it’s not like it’ll be hard.”
Emmy shook her head. “I started it a week ago and you’ll still get a better mark than me.”
Jack stood up and put his bag over his shoulder. “I’m going to do some research upstairs,” he said loudly.
“Uh, okay,” Lola said, “knock yourself out.”
Jack got a pen out of his bag, dropped it between Lola and Emmy, then reached down to pick it up. “Meet me on the third floor in five minutes,” he whispered.
Before they could say anything, Jack had spun around and was sauntering up one of the iron staircases.
Emmy glanced at Lola. “What was that about?”
“Beats me.”
Five minutes later, Emmy and Lola packed up their things and headed upstairs. It took a few minutes to find Jack. He was sitting in the middle of a row of books with a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare on his lap.
“All this paranoia better be about more than Macbeth,” Lola grumbled.
Jack put the heavy book on the floor. “Are you sure nobody followed you?”
Lola rolled her eyes, but Emmy nodded. “I’m sure.”
“I heard about what happened on the weekend.” Jack looked at Emmy. “Are you okay?”
Emmy tried to smile. “No harm done. So, what did you find out?”
Jack unzipped his schoolbag. “I’ll tell you one thing: this box is old.” He pulled out Emmy’s box and handed it to her. “I looked through one of my dad’s books on identifying symbols, and I found a bunch of the ones that are stamped into the box. They’re all associated with Catholic Resistance groups from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
“And I don’t think the medallions are just for decoration. These things are solid pewter, and they’re incredibly intricate. They would have been really expensive to make. There has to be a point to them, some kind of purpose.”
“You think these medallions actually do something?” Emmy asked.
“I don’t know,” Jack said. “But look at all the grooves and holes in them. Everything looks deliberately carved.”
Lola picked one up and squinted at it. “It’s almost like something’s missing.”
“Missing?” Emmy asked.
“Yeah,” Lola said. She held the medallion up to the light. “Look at these ridges. Doesn’t it look like something should fit in there?”
“Maybe,” Emmy said. She took the medallion and ran her fingers over it. It did feel like there was some kind of missing piece that would fit onto the back side. But what could it be? She put the medallion back in the box and closed the lid. “Listen, where do you think I should keep this box? After what happened this weekend, I don’t know if my room is the best place anymore.”
“You think this is what they were after?” Jack asked.
Emmy didn’t say anything. She did think they were after the box, but she didn’t want to say it out loud.
Lola started chewing on her finger nail. “There’s something else I’ve been wondering about. Where do you think your dad got this box?”
Emmy shrugged. “How should I know?”
“It’s just…” Lola looked away. It wasn’t like her to beat around the bush. It made Emmy nervous.
“Do you think maybe he…stole it?”
Emmy stared at her. “Why would you think that?”
“Look, just hear me out,” Lola said. “Jonas said your dad had gotten into trouble here, and—”
“He said he was a troublemaker,” Emmy corrected her, “that’s not the same thing.”
“Yeah, well my mum’s reaction to hearing his name suggests it was some pretty significant trouble.”
Emmy felt her face get hot. Even though she couldn’t remember her dad, it was still irritating to hear someone talk about him like that. “So, what?”
“So, somebody went to a lot of trouble to look for something in your room. It must be something incredibly valuable to whoever it was. If your dad did steal something from that person, it obviously hasn’t been found yet.”
“Maybe Emmy should keep the box in her room, then,” Jack said.
Lola cocked her head at Jack. “Really?”
“It’s like you said, they already turned her room upside down. They probably figure you don’t have what they want.”
“I hope you’re right,” Emmy said. “I don’t want to buy Jaya a new bedspread.” She opened her bag and put the box inside. “I think maybe I’ll put the medallions in a different box, though, just to be on the safe side. Do you think…”
Suddenly she stopped. The floor was creaking nearby. Someone was in the next aisle. Emmy held her bag tight as the footsteps came closer and closer.
“Finding a lot of pertinent information, are we?” asked a cheerful voice.
Emmy breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Master Barlowe.
“Yeah, loads,” Lola said.
Barlowe raised his eyebrows. “In the zoology section?”
“That’s right,” Lola said. “There used to be a menagerie in the Tower of London, and I needed to check something about medieval chimps.”
Barlowe seemed to be trying not to laugh. “I see, and has that helped you to finally choose a play?”
“It has, actually,” Lola said. “I’m going to do The Taming of the Shrew.”
“Excellent,” Barlowe said, “I suggest you get to it, then.”
They hurried to the nearest staircase and Jack flicked Lola on the shoulder. “Medieval chimps? That’s the best you could come up with?”
“Hey, I didn’t hear you coming up with any ideas.”
They reached the main floor, but Emmy stopped on the last step. She felt like she was being watched. She looked back and saw Master Barlowe looking at them from the top of the iron staircase. He smiled at her, then turned around and disappeared into the stacks.
CHAPTER 18
Easter
A lot more people stuck around for Easter break than there had been at Christmas. Jack went home, but Lola said Glasgow was too far to go to for just a few days. She and Emmy played soccer almost every day, even though the pitch was windy and wet most of the time. “That’s how you know you’re in the UK,” Lola would say. There was always hot chocolate waiting for them in the Hall, which they usually brought back to the common room, so they could play Lola’s slapping card game.
On the last day of break, Lola woke up Emmy at the crack of dawn. “It’s our last day before teachers start piling on homework again. We have to spend as much time on the pitch as possible.”
Emmy groaned. “I still have to finish my homework from last week.”
Lola waved her hand like homework was no big deal. “Meet me downstairs in ten minutes.”
Fifteen minutes later Emmy trudged down the stairs. “Do we at least get to have breakfast first?”
“If you insist.” Lola handed her an envelope. “By the way, someone put this in my mailbox by mistake.”
Emmy took the envelope and frowned. It was addressed to her and was the
same size and shape as the one she’d found in her coat pocket on Christmas day. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
Emmy fumbled with the seal and a small piece of paper fell out onto the floor. She grabbed it and read:
Sent to Thomas Allyn on October 4, 2004.
She turned it over and started to read:
Dear Tom,
The Order knows you’re in America. It’s only a matter of time before they figure out where. They are coming. You need to run.
Emmy started to shake. October 4, 2004. That was two weeks before her third birthday. Two weeks before her father had disappeared. The room started spinning. It couldn’t be true. Why would a little school society want her father dead? This box couldn’t be that valuable. It couldn’t be worth someone’s life. Could it?
“Emmy, you okay?” Lola grabbed her arm. “Sit down, you look like you’re about to keel over.” She led Emmy to an armchair. “What is it?”
Emmy showed her the note, but she didn’t say anything. It felt like she’d swallowed sandpaper.
Lola looked around the room, where there were a few people lingering before breakfast. “Let’s go back to your room.”
They went upstairs, and Lola locked the door behind them. “What do you think this means?”
“It means the Order came after my dad,” Emmy whispered. “They might have even killed him.” She thought about the shoebox that hid the medallions under her bed, and the real box she’d stuffed inside her suitcase. “And I probably have what they’re looking for, which means they might come after me, too.”
Lola looked grimmer than Emmy had ever seen her. “You need to stay away from them, Em. You should stop going to Latin Society and mind your own business.”
Emmy didn’t say anything at first. Lola was probably right. She could even give the Order the box and be done with it. But that made her stomach churn more than the things written in that letter.
“I can’t. If my dad died rather than give them that box, the minute I hand it over, it means he would have died for nothing. Living with that would be worse than living with the Order on my tail.”
• • •
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BLOODY MIND?” Jack shouted.
“Shh!” Emmy hissed. She glanced around the mudflats, which looked as deserted as ever. She and Lola had brought Jack here as soon as he’d gotten back to school. Emmy wanted plenty of distance between her and any Order members before she started talking about her dad.
“What else am I supposed to do?” Emmy asked.
“Stop going to Latin Society. Stop investigating the Order.”
Emmy felt her face flush. “I can’t!”
“But—”
“I know what you’re going to say, Jack, and I don’t want to hear it. I’m not going to stop learning about the Order.”
“What about ringing the police?” Lola said.
“What’s the point?” Emmy asked. “This letter doesn’t prove anything, it doesn’t even implicate anyone. What proof do I have that my dad really did get this letter two weeks before he disappeared? I need more evidence.”
Jack looked like he was about to jump out of his skin. “Emmy, I really don’t think you understand how serious this is. My family has been connected to the Order for generations. I’ve heard all the whispering about deals that have gone bad, and people getting hurt. I know what they’re capable of.”
“I’ve had to live without my dad for ten years, Jack. No one knows what they’re capable of better than I do.”
Jack looked away.
“I know this is dangerous, but I need to know. I’m going to find out everything I can about the Order of Black Hollow Lane, and I’m going to find out if they killed my dad.”
Jack rubbed his temples. “Fine. So, what are we going to do next?”
Emmy blinked. “Uh, we?”
“Of course, we,” Lola said.
Emmy shook her head. “I’m not asking you to do anything, I can do this on my own.”
Lola snorted. “No offense, Emmy, but you need us.”
“No way,” Emmy said, “I’m not going to put you guys in danger.”
“Sorry,” Jack said, “but you don’t get to decide this part. It’ll be much safer if we stick together. Safety in numbers and all that, right?”
“Right, like the Three Musketeers,” Lola said. “One for all—”
“—and all for one,” Jack finished.
• • •
A few days later, Emmy was running to Latin Society, holding her jacket over her head to keep out a torrential downpour of rain.
She finally made it to the little cottage, reached around the spiky plant, and pushed the skull; the wall opened.
“Ah, Emmeline!” Master Larraby called. “So good to see you, my dear!”
Emmy stared at him. Master Larraby never spoke to her at Latin Society, not unless she asked him a specific question about her homework.
“Why don’t you join me by the fire?”
Emmy glanced around the room. Some of the boys were looking at her. Maybe they were wondering why Larraby was talking to her. She was wondering, too. She followed Larraby to a plush leather sofa.
“Crumpet?” Larraby pointed to a plate on the coffee table.
Emmy eyed them warily. “Uh, no thanks.”
Larraby grabbed one and stuffed it in his mouth. “You know,” he said between mouthfuls, “I was just thinking that you and I need to get to know one another better.”
Emmy raised an eyebrow.
“It’s been nearly a whole school year since you joined our little club,” Larraby went on, “and we barely know you. Now, you’re from Massachusetts, correct?”
“Um, Connecticut.”
“Of course,” Larraby said. “Do they have any big cities in Connecticut?”
“I guess Bridgeport’s kinda big, but—”
“And that’s where you’re from? Bridgeport?”
“No, I’m from Gretna. It’s closer to Stamford.”
“Ah yes,” Larraby said. “And your parents…they both live in Gretna as well?”
Emmy shifted in her seat. “I live with my mom.”
“I see, I see. Your parents are divorced then?”
“My father’s dead.”
“That must have been very difficult.” Larraby’s voice was sympathetic, but his expression was cold, almost hungry. “It’s never easy, losing a parent. You must treasure all the reminders you have of him.”
Emmy didn’t say anything. She knew where Larraby was going with this.
“You must value any items that belonged to him above all others.” Larraby looked expectantly at Emmy, but she still didn’t say anything.
“Tell me, did your father…leave you anything? Anything to remember him by?”
Emmy stared straight into Larraby’s eyes. “My mother destroyed all his possessions after he died.”
“Destroyed?” Larraby looked shocked. “Everything he had? Correspondence…mementos…”
“She got rid of it all,” Emmy said. “She didn’t want any reminders of what happened.”
Larraby shook his head. “I must admit, I find that hard to believe.”
“You can ask her about it if you like,” Emmy said. “She’s traveling, but I can give you her phone number.” She didn’t think he’d actually get in touch with her mom, but if he did, her mom would back up her story. It was the truth. Mostly. Her mom had gotten rid of all her dad’s things. She’d just gotten her hands on a few since then.
“So, you have nothing that belonged to him?”
Emmy’s heart skipped a beat. She had to be careful with this answer. “It’s like I told you, my mom destroyed everything we had of his.”
Larraby’s shoulders slumped. “What a pity.” He stood up and walked away.
�
� • •
“I don’t know if you should keep going,” Jack said when Emmy told him and Lola what had happened “Larraby’s probably going to keep asking questions. What if you let something slip? What if he figures out you really do have the box?”
“He’s right.” Lola leaned in close to Jack and Emmy. “Right now, he thinks there’s only one place it can’t be—your room at school. If that’s what he’s looking for, he’s going to keep asking questions until he figures out where it is.”
Emmy brushed a few raindrops out of her hair. “I think he’s the one who’s going to let something slip. He knows something about my dad. Why else would he be asking me all those questions about him? This is my chance to get more information.”
Over the next few weeks, Larraby asked more and more questions. What did her dad do for a living? Did her house have any secret passageways or rooms? Larraby wasn’t exactly subtle, and the stress of coming up with vague answers was starting to get to Emmy. She was having trouble sleeping and trouble concentrating in her classes. Larraby had to give something away eventually. Maybe she should start listening outside his office door.
She rubbed her eyes as she made her way to humanities class one day. Just a few more days. She was sure she was getting close to a breakthrough. She just had to hang on a few more days and Larraby would crack.
When she got to the humanities classroom, Jack and Lola were standing outside with most of the rest of the class.
“Door’s locked,” Lola said.
Jack looked at his watch. “Barlowe must be running late.”
“Finally learned to tell time, Jacklyn?” someone sneered. Emmy stiffened. Brynn was walking toward them. “When we were roommates, you couldn’t even tie your shoelaces.”
Jack looked away.
“Just ignore him,” Lola said loudly.
“Oh, that’s right,” Brynn said, his eyes glinting. “I forgot you hired a guard dog.”