Curse of the Boggin

by D. J. MacHale

  “It’s okay,” I said, and pointed to the sky. “She’s not going anywhere.”

  We all looked up to see the dark clouds breaking apart, allowing rays of sunshine to sneak through. There was no more hail. No more rain. The warm glow wasn’t being made by the Boggin. It was sunlight hitting the boat.

  The swirling vortex of water in front of us spun out. With a gurgle, the hole disappeared, and the surface of the Sound was once again calm.

  “I knew it was pure copper,” Theo said, cocky.

  “Look!” Lu exclaimed.

  A sailboat appeared through the mist ahead of us, off the port bow.

  “That was cutting it a little too close,” she said, exhaling with relief.

  The boat seemed like a ghostly apparition as it appeared from out of the mist.

  “Wait,” Theo said. “Why are their sails up?”

  One look at the boat gave me the answer.

  “It’s not my parents,” I said. “Our boat’s way smaller than that.”

  This sailboat was nearly twice the length of ours. It looked to be a vintage craft, with lots of teak trim and a large silver wheel to the stern. Whereas our boat was designed for short cruises, this beauty looked as though it could navigate more challenging ocean waters.

  “Where did they come from?” Theo asked.

  The beautiful boat approached us smoothly, several yards off to port. I couldn’t take my eyes off it as it cut through the water with its sails perfectly trimmed and filled with wind.

  But there was no wind.

  Something was off.

  “Who’s the guy?” Lu asked.

  Standing in the very tip of the bow was a man I was surprised to see, only this time I understood why he was there. And I wasn’t frightened.

  It was Michael Swenor.

  He was wearing khakis and a sweater, standard sailing clothes. Unlike the other times I’d seen him, when he’d stared at me with sad, haunted eyes, Michael actually looked relaxed. And happy. As the sleek craft approached, he raised his hand, waved to me, and smiled.

  “You know him?” Theo asked.

  “I do,” I said.

  “What’s he so happy about?” Lu asked skeptically. “He must have gotten hit by the storm too.”

  “I think it’s because his story is finally complete,” I said.

  “Oh,” Lu said. “Wait, what?”

  I waved to Michael with pride, knowing he could now rest in peace.

  As the boat swept past, I saw that there were two other people aboard. A man and a woman. The man was at the wheel, toward the stern, and the woman was at his side. His arm was around her waist. Like Michael, both wore boating clothes, looking like a couple who couldn’t be happier while out for a morning sail.

  And they looked familiar.

  As they drew closer and I got a better look at them, I felt certain I’d met them before. They were definitely familiar to me, yet they weren’t at all. It wasn’t until they were directly across from us, as close as they were going to get, that it hit me.

  The guy looked like me. An adult me. He gave me a big smile and a thumbs-up.

  The woman blew me a kiss and waved. We were close enough that I could see she was smiling through bittersweet tears.

  “You know them too?” Lu asked, incredulous.

  I waved back numbly. I wanted to laugh, and shout, and maybe cry a little myself. I felt completely whole and, at the same time, very alone. If there was one overriding emotion that swept over me in that moment, it was pride. I had made them proud.

  “They’re my parents,” I said.

  “No, they’re not,” Theo said, scoffing. “They don’t look anything like…”

  Theo’s words caught in his throat as we watched the boat glide past.

  “…ghosts.”

  The image I will always keep with me is of two happy people out for an afternoon sail with their friend, looking at me with huge, loving smiles.

  My father raised two fingers to put bunny ears behind my mother’s head.

  Then they were gone, disappearing into the mist of the chilly fall day.

  “And that just happened,” Lu said, stunned.

  The harsh sound of an air horn brought us all back to the moment.

  Mom and Dad’s sailboat puttered up to us as the fog dissipated and bright sunlight painted the surface of the water.

  Mom leaned over the side with a line at the ready.

  “Are you kids all right?” she called, sounding frazzled.

  Theo, Lu, and I exchanged looks and laughed.

  “We’re fine,” I called back. “What about you?”

  “Scared to death!” Mom exclaimed as she tossed me the line.

  We all worked to bring the sailboat up alongside the powerboat. Dad cut the outboard motor, and we drifted together.

  Mom immediately leapt into our boat, threw her arms around me, and hugged me close.

  “That was horrible!” she exclaimed. “I was so worried for you kids.”

  She opened her arms out wider so that Lu and Theo could get the benefit of her motherly hug. They both went along with it while we all exchanged smiles. Nobody rolled their eyes.

  “What did you see?” Lu asked. “Hail!” she said. “I’d never been through such a thing. Theo, you’re hurt. And, Lu, you’ve got a cut on your forehead.”

  “We’re okay,” Lu assured her. “Just some nicks.”

  “I’ll get the first-aid kit,” Mom said.

  “That’s all you saw?” I asked.

  “What else was there to see?” Dad said as he leaned in from the sailboat. “It was pea soup fog. I was afraid we’d ram you. What are you all doing out here, anyway?”

  Lu and Theo looked to me. This was my call. I had to answer.

  “It was so calm, we thought you’d be stuck out here. That little outboard is useless, so we came out to see if you’d need a tow. We had no idea that storm was going to come out of nowhere.”

  I exchanged looks with Theo and Lu. They nodded. They got it. I wasn’t about to tell my parents the whole story. Especially not since it was over and everyone was safe.

  “Well, thank you,” Mom said as she pulled away. “You kids are the best.”

  “Yes, we are,” Lu said with a smug smile.

  “I’m just relieved we’re all safe,” Mom said. “But I’m freezing. We’ve got enough dry sweatshirts for everybody.”

  She gave us one last squeeze and let us all go. She then took a step toward the bow and accidentally tripped over the metal vessel that was on the deck between the seats.

  The three of us gasped, fearing the thin copper wire might break.

  I lunged forward and caught Mom before she went crashing to the deck.

  “Ow!” she yelled. “I’m such a clod.”

  “Sorry,” Lu said, and quickly picked the box up. “It’s a gearbox. Shouldn’t have left it out like that.”

  She shoved it into Theo’s arms.

  “Don’t drop it,” she said while staring him down.

  “Don’t worry,” Theo replied.

  While Lu and Dad worked to lash together a tow, Mom grabbed both of my shoulders and leaned in close.

  “Thank you for coming out here,” she said.

  “No problem,” I said with a casual shrug. “You’re my mom. Maybe you still need me too.”

  I thought I actually saw tears grow in her eyes. She pulled me in and gave me another hug. It was embarrassing, yeah. But that was okay. I guess she was a hugger after all. Theo and Lu weren’t about to give me a hard time.

  They knew what I had sacrificed to save my parents.

  Mom climbed back aboard our sailboat to get the dry sweatshirts and the first-aid kit. It gave Theo, Lu, and me a moment alone.

  “I love happy endings,” Lu said.

  “Me too,” I replied. “Except this story isn’t over just yet.”

  Two hours later, Lu, Theo, and I sat together on the end of my bed, staring at the vessel on my desk.

  “
It looks so innocent,” Theo said. “Hard to believe what’s trapped inside.”

  “That wire looks pretty fragile,” Lu pointed out.

  “We’ll fix that,” I said. “I don’t want anybody to be able to open that ever again.”

  “You did the right thing, Marcus,” Lu said wistfully. “The smart thing. You totally played that monster. But it was a huge price to pay. The Paradox key is locked in there with the Boggin. We’ll never enter the Library again. Nobody will. None of the other stories will be finished.”

  The two looked pretty down. I could read their minds. Lu was thinking about her cousin, and Theo was worried about his fourteenth birthday.

  “I hope it was worth it,” Theo said glumly.

  I stood up and said, “There’s actually one more mystery you guys can solve.”

  “Really?” Lu asked, brightening up.

  “What is it?” Theo asked.

  “Just how dumb do you think I am?”

  The two exchanged confused looks.

  “What kind of question is that?” Theo asked.

  “Do you really think I was stupid enough to put the real key in that box?”

  The two sat bolt upright.

  I reached into the pocket of my jeans and took out the Paradox key.

  They both jumped to their feet with surprise.

  “You switched keys?” Lu exclaimed.

  “I found a bunch of old keys in the basement when I was looking for copper. That’s when I got the idea to trick the old hag.”

  Theo said, “So the Boggin’s stuck in there with—”

  “With a key that probably fits some dusty old cabinet in our basement. I don’t want to pile on, but I hope she knows it.”

  “Oh, please, pile on,” Lu said. “That is just sweet.”

  “So this means we still have a shot at finding our own stories?” Theo asked.

  I looked at the tarnished brass key and its clover-leaf design. It seemed so normal. It was hard to believe it possessed such amazing power, and magic.

  “Absolutely,” I said. I went to my desk, picked up the vessel, and turned to my friends.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  “Now?” Theo exclaimed nervously. “Right now?”

  I walked to my bedroom door and felt the familiar warmth pulse from the key. I held it out toward the door, making the keyhole appear.

  Theo gasped. “After all I’ve seen, why am I still surprised?”

  “Get used to it,” Lu said. “We’re still just getting started.”

  I twisted the key and opened the door to reveal the stacks of books beyond. Theo looked every bit as stunned as Lu had when I first brought her there.

  A laugh came from deeper inside. Something had struck Everett as funny.

  We hurried past the aisles of books to the circulation desk, where the spirit librarian sat, reading a book, of course.

  “Oh, that was absolutely perfect,” Everett said, chuckling. “You switched keys and taunted the demon until it jumped into the vessel. Brilliant, Marcus, brilliant.”

  “I thought so,” I said.

  Everett glanced at Theo and said, “You must be Theo. Quick thinking about the copper wire, lad.”

  Theo stood with his mouth open. It was the first time I’d ever seen him speechless.

  “Is that Michael Swenor’s book?” Lu asked.

  “Aye. And quite the story it is,” Everett replied. “Turns out it wasn’t just about delivering the Paradox key to you, Marcus. It was about recapturing the Boggin. That’s the event that finally ended his tale.”

  Everett held the book out to us so we could read the final page. At the bottom, beneath the last paragraph, were two beautiful words.

  “ ‘The end,’ ” I read aloud.

  “My two favorite words,” Everett said. “Now all it needs is a title. Every book has to have a title.”

  We all stood there, at a loss, until…

  “What about Mysterious Messenger?” Theo said.

  We all shot him a surprised look.

  Theo shrugged and said, “You know, because Michael Swenor brought the key to Marcus. And all that.”

  “I don’t know” I said. “There ended up being so much more to the story than that.”

  “Then let’s just call it what it was,” Lu said. “Curse of the Boggin.”

  Everett raised an eyebrow and looked to me.

  “That’s more like it,” I said.

  “Then Curse of the Boggin it is!” Everett declared as he snapped the book shut. “Welcome to the party, Theo.”

  Theo rubbed his ear and gave me a small smile.

  Everett said, “Now I can place it with the other Boggin stories, in the Completed section.”

  We watched as Everett ambled to the aisle of completed stories and shelved the newest volume.

  “What do I do with this?” I asked, pushing the vessel across the desk. “It’s not like I can keep it in my room next to my football trophies.”

  “Bury the beastie,” Everett said. “Stick it in a vault. Find a place where nobody will find it. What happened here wasn’t the first time. I’ve got aisles of stories that say so.”

  “I guess I’ll have to figure something out,” I said.

  “That’s not all that needs figuring out,” Everett said. “There’s the issue of that missing book. We still don’t know why Michael Swenor released the Boggin, or who put him up to it. There’s a whole other story in play here.”

  “We saw my parents out on the water,” I said. “My birth parents.”

  “They were, like…ghosts,” Theo said.

  Lu said, “Were they like ghosts…or were they ghosts?”

  “Give me a break,” Theo shot back. “I’m out of my comfort zone here.”

  “I think the missing book is my parents’ story,” I said. “It could be about what really happened to them.”

  “Does that mean you’ll be trying to finish it?” Everett asked.

  All eyes went to me.

  I gazed down one of the long aisles of books that held the unfinished stories. It was daunting to see so many thousands of books, all containing stories of people from different times and places whose lives had been disrupted. As Everett said, there was no way to know what would happen with any of them, because it hadn’t happened yet. But there was one thing we did know.

  The stories could be finished.

  “Not knowing who my real parents were and what happened to them has bothered me my whole life. The way I see it, I’ve got a shot at putting a few of my own ghosts to rest. While I’m at it, I might be able to help some of the other people who are locked in their own mysteries.”

  “Like me,” Lu said.

  “And me,” Theo added.

  I looked to Everett and said, “I’ve got two research projects for you.”

  “I’d be honored,” Everett said with a wink. “It’s what I do.”

  “You’ll need help, Marcus,” Lu said.

  “Absolutely,” Theo added. “From somebody smarter than you.”

  “Yeah,” Lu said. “And from Theo too.”

  Theo shot her a withering look.

  Lu just smiled.

  “Seriously? You guys would help me tackle some of these mysteries?”

  “Wait,” Lu said. “You’re asking if I’m willing to go on mysterious adventures filled with danger and excitement? Do you know me? Have we met?”

  “That’s a yes,” Theo said.

  I looked to Everett and said, “Then you’ve got yourself three new agents.”

  But before we could even think about tackling a new story, I had some other important business to settle.

  —

  On Sunday afternoon I sat in the park near the Stony Brook train station with Lillian Swenor. Alec was off playing on the swings. He didn’t seem all that interested in seeing me. I figured it was because he was still upset about giving me the key. They were two people whose lives were never going to be the same, thanks to the curse of the Boggin. I
needed to let Mrs. Swenor know that Michael was at peace, though I didn’t think for a second she’d believe me. Still, I had to try. I sat there for the longest time, trying to find the right words.

  As it turned out, she said them for me.

  “Is Michael’s story finished?” she asked.

  I was so surprised by the question that I didn’t know how to answer. She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye that gave me a hint of the bright personality she must have had before Michael died.

  “Don’t look so surprised,” she said. “Michael told me a little about the Library. To be honest, I didn’t believe him. I didn’t want to believe. But I do now.”

  “Then, yes, his story is finished,” I said. “I don’t think I’m going to be seeing him anymore.”

  Mrs. Swenor sighed and said, “That’s a good thing, I guess. Thank you, Marcus.”

  “For what?”

  “Michael’s at peace now, and so am I.”

  Alec came running over, out of breath from doing laps around the slide.

  “Can we go now?” he asked his mother.

  “Not yet,” I said. “Alec, I’m sorry for taking the key. I know how much it meant to you because it was your dad’s, and I feel bad that I had to take it.”

  Alec shrugged and looked to the ground without a word.

  “But I think I can replace it with something way better,” I said.

  I reached into my hoodie pocket.

  “My father wanted me to have that key,” I said. “And I’m pretty sure your father would want you to have this.”

  I pulled out Michael Swenor’s New York City firefighter’s badge. Alec’s eyes lit up as I held the treasure out to him in my open palm.

  “Michael’s first badge! I thought that was lost,” Mrs. Swenor exclaimed. “Where did you find it?”

  “It was being held by a good friend until it could get to where it belongs, and it belongs with you, Alec.”

  Alec looked to his mom for the okay. Mrs. Swenor nodded enthusiastically. Alec didn’t wait another second and took the precious badge. His father’s badge. He gazed at it as if it was the most valuable treasure he could imagine. Because it was.

  “Thanks, Marcus,” Alec said. “I wish you knew my dad. You would have liked him.”

  “I know I would have,” I said.

  Mrs. Swenor pinned the badge onto Alec’s jacket.