The Keeper

by David Baldacci

  “Do you know where they went, Vega?”

  I slowly turned and looked at her questioningly. “No, I don’t.”

  She scrutinized me closely before saying, “Let’s apply a bit of logic, shall we? If they’re not in Wormwood and they’re not in the Quag?”

  “They’re beyond the Quag,” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “So why can my grandfather leave Wormwood without ever stepping one foot into the Quag like I have to?”

  “Leaving Wormwood and bypassing the Quag would have been easy enough for someone like him.”

  “And my parents? I suppose they made the decision to leave me?”

  “No, Virgil summoned them.”

  “Summoned them? Why?”

  “Did he never talk to you about it?” she said fiercely. “Tell me the truth!”

  “No, never,” I said, taken aback by her harsh tone. Was she as nutters as Thorne?

  “You do not know of his plans? Tell me if you do. Tell me!”

  I took a step back, for her face had twisted into a furious mass. I thought for a moment that she was going to attack me.

  “I have never heard from my grandfather since he left,” I said calmly. “And he never told me anything about any plans. All he ever told me was … that he loved me.”

  This was a lie of course. My grandfather had actually told me something about Wormwood. He had said that the most bitterly awful place of all is one that Wugmorts don’t know is as wrong as wrong can possibly be. I had no idea what he was talking about then. But now I believed that I did.

  Her expression became normal once more and she sat behind her desk and steepled her hands in front of her. “I think that is enough for one night. At next light, we will fetch your friend. And then all will be right again.”

  She smiled at me in a way that made my skin crawl.

  I walked slowly back to my room, wondering who I really was and concluding that I was nothing. If Astrea was right, my grandfather had been able to leave Wormwood because he was magical, this Excalibur thing in fact. And he had summoned my parents to join him, which showed that he could bring others to him if he so desired. But he hadn’t summoned me. He had left me behind, in Wormwood. He apparently considered me of no importance whatsoever.

  So no matter whether I made it through the Quag or died here, I was nothing. Sometimes the truth helps. Sometimes it hurts.

  And sometimes it destroys you.

  DESPITE NOT WANTING to, I slept like a stone. I was finally awoken by something tugging at my sleeve. At first, I didn’t focus on what it was. Then, with a start, I bolted straight up. Harry Two let out a yip and leapt off the bed.

  I was eye to eye with … Seamus. His bulbous eyeballs seemed horrifically huge.

  “Bloody Hel! What are you doing here?” I gasped, holding my chest.

  “Came to fetch you to eat. Madame Prine asked me to.”

  I composed myself. “You were taken care of last night?”

  “Fed like a king, mead to drink and a soft bed.”

  “I’ll be along. I need to get dressed.”

  He shuffled off and I slowly pulled on my clothes.

  Then it struck me. Vega, you git!

  I rushed out of my room with Harry Two at my heels. I found the kitchen by following the smell of food. Seamus and Astrea were already there. He was standing next to a large round, wooden table, while she was standing in front of an enormous and ancient blackened stove where several fat pots sat bubbling and two skillets were sizzling.

  “I hope you’re hungry,” Astrea said to me.

  “I am. And I’m sure Delph must be famished.”

  She shot me a glance. “I suppose you would like to break bread together?”

  “I would, yes, please. I really, really would.”

  “Well, then let’s be off,” she said decisively.

  She moved so quickly that Harry Two and I barely had time to react. A cloak appeared out of thin air and settled neatly around her shoulders as she headed down the hall. We hurried after her, with Seamus bringing up the rear.

  The front door opened of its own accord and we all passed through it. The green dome remained over the cottage although through it I could see that the sky was now clear and bright. She passed through the emerald wall and we scurried after her.

  She took out of her cloak pocket something that looked like a shiny stick and pointed it at the sky. Her lips moved, though I couldn’t hear the words coming out of her mouth. A few moments later, soaring across the clear sky was Delph, still asleep and still inside the web that Astrea had configured last night. He settled gently upon the ground in front of us, curled up and snoring. Astrea gave a final wave of the stick, and the web, which I could see as a number of lines of vivid lights, disappeared. As we watched, Delph started to wake up, stretched, yawned, opened his eyes and …

  “Holy Steeples!” he screamed as he jumped nearly three feet in the air before landing upright, his body contorted into the sophisticated fighting stance I had seen him employ in the Duelum.

  “Delph!” I cried out and launched myself at him, squeezing him tightly.

  But Delph, while he hugged me back, was still staring warily at Astrea and he was still fairly in his fighting stance despite our hugs.

  “It’s okay, Delph,” I said. “This is Astrea Prine.”

  Delph was obviously mightily confused by what was happening. Well, I knew what would take his mind off that. I said, “Are you hungry? We’re about to take a meal in Astrea’s cottage.”

  As I knew he would, Delph focused very quickly.

  “Well, that sounds all right, then, eh?” he said, straightening up and dropping his fighting stance.

  I led Delph toward the emerald light, which he drew back from until I walked through it and beckoned him to follow. As we approached the cottage, Astrea gazed up at my tall friend. “So you’re Daniel Delphia, are you?”

  “I am,” he said, shooting me a quizzical look. “Friends call me Delph.”

  “And you’re traveling with this one?” she said, hooking a thumb at me.

  “I am,” Delph said again.

  Astrea turned and headed into the cottage without another word.

  When she had gone into the cottage with Seamus, I screamed, once more jumped into Delph’s arms and squeezed him so tightly I thought either he might burst or my arms would fall off.

  I gushed as I felt tears rise to my eyes, “You’re all right, Delph. I … I was so scared. That bloody cloud. You just disappeared.”

  He hugged me back and then slowly set me down on the ground.

  “I don’t know what happened, Vega, to tell the truth. I was talking to you one sliver and then the next thing I know, I’m in the middle of some trees with no idea how I got there. It was weird-like. What happened to you?”

  “After you vanished, I met a hob named Seamus. He took me to Astrea’s cottage.”

  “And how’d I get back here?”

  “I’ll explain everything, but it’s going to take a while. So be patient.”

  “Well, let me eat first and then I’ll be more patient.”

  We held hands all the way to the cottage. Part of me didn’t want to ever let go of Delph. I would rather die than lose him again. I had lost my parents and my brother. I could not lose Delph. I just couldn’t.

  With him I knew I could face anything.

  Together.

  I led him into the kitchen, where Seamus was already seated in a chair by the stove, on which the pots and skillets were still bubbling and sizzling, respectively.

  “So who’s the little bloke?” Delph asked as he sat down.

  “Seamus, the hob I mentioned.”

  “Hob?”

  “Remember, in Quentin’s book. A hob!”

  “Oh, right. Helpful blokes.”

  “Well, actually, he isn’t really all that helpful,” I whispered.

  Astrea had swept off her cloak and hung it on a wall peg and now was once more overseeing the stove. S
he called out, “Vega, please set the table.”

  This puzzled me for a moment before I figured what I needed to do. “Plates, cups, goblets, forks, knives and napkins. Please,” I tacked on at the end.

  Delph nearly fell out of his chair when all these things came plummeting from the ceiling to land softly on the table all lined up proper-like.

  “What the —” he began.

  “And bowls,” added Astrea. “And spoons.”

  The bowls and spoons alighted next to the plates, making Delph jump again.

  I put a calming hand on his arm. “Patience, remember?”

  I noted that on the floor a pan of water had appeared in front of Harry Two, along with a bowl of food. He looked at me as though waiting for permission to begin. I smiled and nodded at him and he started to gobble and slurp.

  “ ’Tis ready,” announced Astrea.

  She swept a hand across the pots and skillets and then pointed at the table. What was on the stove was thus transferred to our plates and bowls. We looked down and saw fried eggs and bacon and ham and brown toast and sausages and kippers, and porridge in our bowls as well. Jams, butter and honey pots also appeared in front of us. Our goblets were filled with milk. Our cups nearly brimmed over with hot tea.

  I looked at Astrea inquiringly. “Aren’t you eating too?”

  “I’ve not much of an appetite. You two eat. We’ll talk later.”

  She walked out of the room. Seamus followed.

  As we ate, I told Delph everything that had happened to me. As I did so, his jaw dropped so low it was almost resting in his pile of smoked kippers.

  “Are you telling me that all that happened in the course of one bleedin’ night?”

  I finished a bit of bacon. “Well, that doesn’t count the time I was asleep.”

  “Bloody Hel,” he said, cramming two fried eggs and a kipper into his mouth. He drank down his milk, and his features turned somber.

  “What is it, Delph? Do you want some more food? I’m sure —”

  “It’s not that, though I could go for a few more eggs and maybe a half dozen bits of bacon and another kipper or two and I wouldn’t turn down a few more fried biscuits and another cuppa tea, I can tell you that.”

  He again nearly leapt out of his chair when this exact amount of food and drink appeared on his plate and in his cup. When he’d righted himself and begun to eat once more, I said, “So what’s on your mind?”

  “It’s all rubbish, ain’t it? All we’ve known. Bloody lies!”

  He was right. They were lies. But there was truth out there. And we would find it.

  AFTER WE FINISHED eating, Astrea led us into the room located off the library. She sat behind her old desk, staring at us and drumming her fingertips on the wood.

  “I want to be sure that I understand your true and sincere intent,” she said.

  Delph and I glanced at each other.

  I spoke up. “I thought I made that clear enough. We mean to get through the Quag. The three of us, including Harry Two of course,” I added, scratching his ear.

  She looked at Delph. “And you?”

  “Like Vega Jane said. We want the truth. Done with all the lies, ain’t we?”

  Astrea nodded and drew out the sticklike thing she had used to bring Delph here. I could now see that it wasn’t clear. It was actually made of crystal.

  “What is that?” I asked.

  “My wand. It is a necessary element to perform magic.”

  I said slowly, “I did magic sort of back in Wormwood, but I had no wand.”

  “You mean with the Elemental or the chain,” she said.

  “No, I made a window that Morrigone destroyed put itself back together.”

  “Indeed?” said Astrea, looking quite interested by this.

  “Why would I be able to do that?” I asked.

  “If power runs down the line, it touches all in that line.”

  “My parents couldn’t perform magic,” I said emphatically.

  “And how do you know they couldn’t?” she asked.

  “Well, they never did.”

  “That is not the same thing as being unable to.”

  “If my parents were powerful, why would they have been in the Care?”

  “Maybe the fact that they were powerful caused them to end up in the Care.”

  My brows knitted together as I thought over this strange possibility. “Are you saying their power made them sick?”

  “No, I’m saying that their power made them dangerous to others.”

  As the meaning of her words sunk in, I rose on quivering legs, my face flushed, my chest swelling with fierce emotions. “Are you … ?” I faltered. I made another attempt. “Do you mean to say … ?” Again, I could not finish. Delph reached over and put a supportive hand on my shoulder.

  Astrea said, “That they were cursed to prevent them from escaping Wormwood? Yes, that is exactly what I mean.”

  My eyes flashed. “Morrigone! She’s the only one that could have done it.”

  “I agree,” she said so casually that my suspicions soared.

  “And you knew about it!” I yelled.

  “Of course I knew about it,” she replied so calmly that I wanted to hit her. “Our goal was to stop anyone from leaving Wormwood.”

  “So you had Morrigone curse my parents into … into … what they became?”

  “I saw what she did.”

  “You could have stopped it, then,” I pointed out heatedly.

  “But I did not want your parents to use their power to escape.”

  Now I pounced. It was stupid, but I couldn’t help myself. “So then, why are you helping us to escape the Quag?” I demanded.

  “Who said that I was?” she replied instantly.

  Suddenly, I read all in her look. How I had so misjudged her I didn’t know.

  Delph gave voice to what I was thinking.

  He leapt up, grabbed my arm and yelled, “Run, Vega Jane.”

  Before I could even rise from my chair, she pointed her wand at Delph and said, “Elevata.”

  Delph soared up into the air, stopping right before he hit the ceiling. She gave her wand a bit of a wiggle and he spun upside down.

  I stood, my eyes wide and my heart racing. “Stop that!” I screamed. “Don’t hurt him. I’m the reason we’re here. Leave Delph alone. Please!”

  Astrea flicked the wand downward, uttered one word, “Descente,” and Delph turned right side up and fell heavily into the chair.

  Astrea laid her wand upon the desk and stared at both of us expectantly.

  “I may not be what I once was, but let me assure you, my powers are still far beyond your comprehension.” She paused, and I knew what she said next would have monumental impact on us. I was not mistaken.

  She said, “You shall remain here in my custody.”

  “For how long?” I snapped, though I well knew the answer.

  “For the rest of your lives,” she said calmly. “It gives me no great pleasure to do this. You are obviously brave, and your motives are genuine and deeply felt, I’m sure.”

  “But?” I exclaimed.

  “But as Keeper of the Quag, I have a job to do, and I mean to do it. Now, you will have the run of the cottage and the land inside the dome.”

  “And if we try to get past the dome?” Delph asked.

  Despite him asking the question, Astrea’s gaze held on me. Her eyes seemed to swell to match the size of the room. “Not pleasant,” she said. “A’tall.”

  I really couldn’t believe what was happening. We had escaped Thorne and his bloody kingdom only to be imprisoned once more by this cow! And while Thorne was dangerous, he wasn’t magical. Astrea, to my mind, was a hundred times more formidable than the git Thorne.

  Astrea rose, and without another word, she left the room.

  I slumped back in my chair. Delph, however, remained rigid in his.

  “She is a sorely tried female,” he observed.

  “She’s sorely tried? What a
bout us? We’re going to be here until we’re bloody well dead.”

  “Lot of sorrow in her, Vega. Easy to see.”

  “I think she’s evil!”

  “She’s not like Thorne. He woulda just killed us and put our bones on his wall. Not keep us fed with a roof over our heads.”

  I supposed Delph was right about this, though our bones would end up here eventually, I thought miserably. “Well, Astrea said we had the run of the cottage and the land inside the dome.”

  “So what do we do with that?” asked Delph.

  “We are not staying here, Delph. Thorne couldn’t stop us and neither will Astrea Prine. We are escaping this place.”

  “Okay, but how do we do that?”

  “I say we start with Archie.”

  DELPH AND HARRY Two followed me down the hall. I opened the door to the room and walked in. We gathered at the side of the bed and looked down.

  I said solemnly, “This is Archie Prine, Astrea’s son.”

  Delph gazed at the shrunken man in total bewilderment. While I had explained to Delph about the elixir, it was altogether something else to see it for yourself.

  I pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed.

  “Hello, Archie,” I said softly, hoping to rouse him gently from his sleep.

  He stirred and his eyes slowly opened. He blinked, but though he’d seen me before, no recognition came to his features.

  “I’m Vega. And these are my friends, Delph and Harry Two.” Archie kept his gaze on me. I bent lower. “We’ve come to stay with you and Astrea.”

  “Y-you … h-have?” he croaked.

  I nodded. “She told me about you. And her. And this place.”

  “Sh-she … did?”

  I nodded again. “She said you’d grown tired of taking the elixir.”

  “S-sacrifice.” He shook his head and when he tried to sit up, Delph and I helped him. Now he was looking at us from a far more comfortable position.

  I nodded knowingly. “Sacrifice,” I said. “And the Battle of the Beasts. And Bastion Cadmus.” I was saying these things in the hopes that something would jog Archie’s memory.

  “Load-a t-tosh,” he said. “Beasts? P-piffle.”

  “That’s right. Astrea said so too. She said there was a war, though. She said one side lost and the other won.”