Crinshaw hit the gavel again. “Very well. We are adjourned.” Crinshaw and the other city council members started to push away from the dais. The mayor walked over to Dan, who was furiously shoving papers into his briefcase.
“This is a complete farce, Ava,” Dan complained.
“Don’t be so sore, Danny,” the mayor said with mock pity. “Your suggestion was the highlight of the day. Sab will greatly help our investigation. You just wait and see.”
A cacophony of chirps and squeaks, caws and honks surrounded Will as he approached the thin woman at the back of Bobbit’s Bestiary. He grimaced, wanting to cover his ears from the racket. This is like an Evil Enchanted Tiki Room, Will thought.
The woman at the back of the store could not be more serene. She wore a layered off-white dress that had the haphazard appearance of a pile of laundry. In the bend of her pale, thin arm she cradled a bowl filled with what appeared to be green oatmeal. With a delicate spoon, she scooped up the green paste and lifted it to the hungry beaks straining through the bars on all sides.
“You came at feeding time. Aren’t you lucky,” the woman said in a high, airy, musical voice. The moment Will made eye contact, she broke her glance, turning away shyly. “We get so few visitors. Mr. Bobbit doesn’t like me to…I don’t often get to speak with the customers. But you seem nice. Different.”
She shook her hair—a nest of dark hay—over the side of her face, concealing it from view. It made Will want to lean in even closer.
“Are those ducks you’re feeding? They’re big,” he said.
“Oh, you’re silly.” She laughed lightly, continuing to feed the caged fowl. They angrily snapped at the end of her spoon with their black-tipped pink bills. “They’re not ducks. You’re Egyptian geese, aren’t you? Tell him what you are.” Their honking and hissing escalated.
To Will they looked like oversized ducks that had crossed several lanes of traffic—and kissed a few bumpers. The geese had mismatched patches of gray, rust, and black on their coats. Brown stains ringed their yellow eyes, and rust circled their necks like nasty strangle marks.
“They’re not going to win any beauty pageants, are they?” Will pushed his pith helmet back, smiling.
“I think they’re lovely,” the woman snapped, turning her back to him. She attended to the cages at the back wall. “If you only see the outside, you miss a great deal. External beauty is not everything.”
“I was making a joke. I wasn’t saying…” Will struggled to recover. “You’re really good with them. I can tell they like you, ma’am.”
“We spend a lot of time together, the birds and me. I care for them deeply.” The geese hissed in their cages, beating their brown wings madly against the thin bars. The woman glanced at Will for a moment, lighting on his helmet with her small black eyes. “It’s rude to wear a hat indoors.” She hid her face once more under her wiry black overgrowth.
Will removed his helmet, examining the cages to his left. In one of the lower pens, near his waist, he spotted a huge black bird. “Is that a raven?”
“You shouldn’t be looking in there.” The woman spun around and dropped a canvas curtain, covering the lower set of cages. “Mr. Bobbit wouldn’t like it if I—You won’t tell him, will you? I didn’t show it to you. You found it yourself. You’re not going to tell on me, are you?” Her black pupils pulsed with fear as she hugged the metal bowl to her chest.
“No, I promise not to tell him,” Will said soothingly. “But I need some information, miss. I think you can help me.”
“What sort of information?”
“My name’s Will. I’m looking for a raven. Mr. Bobbit said he didn’t sell ravens, that he didn’t even know where to find them.” He pointed to the covered cages. “But isn’t that a raven, miss? Miss?”
“Miss Ann. I’m Ann Hye. Pleased to meet you,” she sang, her tiny eyes darting. “I shouldn’t say what’s in the cage. I have to feed the geese now.”
She returned to the big cages at the rear.
“But isn’t this a raven, Miss Ann?” Will lifted the canvas curtain to reveal a black bird, cowering in the back of its cage.
Ann Hye tried to resume the feeding. She finally stabbed the spoon into the green goo in her bowl, her eyes to the floor. “It is a raven,” she said quietly. “He lies. Mr. Bobbit lies.”
Outside, Crocket pressed his face against the front window, staring hard at Will.
“Miss Ann, you have my word. I won’t mention anything to Mr. Bobbit. I don’t even know him.” Will delicately approached the woman. “Did he say anything about a staff?”
Ann Hye gasped, drawing a small hand over her mouth. She nodded incessantly. “He’s been talking about that museum, the one up the street. He said there was a staff there. He’s been talking about it a lot.” Ann drew close to Will. The caged wildlife stilled. “He hates the old woman, the one who runs the place, but he does have a friend at the museum. He knows one of them…”
“Who does he know?” Will’s head ached. He could feel his anger rising. “And why does he hate the old…Lucille, Lucille Wilder?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know names. I just heard him on the phone a few times with Mr. Sab…Pothinus Sab. He’s one of our biggest clients.”
“Sab? What’s Sab buying? Is he buying ravens?”
The geese hissed and honked suddenly. “They’re getting hungry. They like my special recipe. It’s grains and grasses and greens.” She pulled a clean spoon from her pocket and scooped it into her bowl. “Here.” She rammed the green mixture into Will’s mouth. He spit it out into his hand.
“Don’t be rude. Eat it. It’s good for you. All natural. It’ll fatten you up.” She trilled a laugh and flitted back to the demanding geese.
“Please, ma’am, you’ve got to answer me. Is Sab buying the ravens?” Will pressed.
“No, silly. He buys geese. He likes them plump and healthy.” She pet a goose on the head with the back of her twiglike finger.
Will put his helmet back on. The bitter taste of the goose feed felt like acid in his mouth. “Miss Ann, will you tell me if Mr. Bobbit says anything else about the staff or if you learn anything about who’s buying the ravens?”
Ann Hye nodded without looking his way. “I’ll watch him for you. Though you mustn’t tell him we talked. You mustn’t tell him I told you about the staff or showed you the raven. Mr. Bobbit would be very angry with me.”
“I promise,” Will said, wiping his hand on a tissue he spotted behind the counter. He headed for the front door. “So long,” he said with a quick wave.
Mr. Bobbit lied to me about the ravens. What else is he lying about?
Pulling at the front door handle, he thought about Bobbit’s hatred for his aunt Lucille and grew furious. He flung the door wide.
“Hey, boy!” Crocket warned as he rolled up a hose. “Careful with the door. You best stay away from here, understand? There’s nothing in that store for you—’specially when Mr. Bobbit’s not here.”
Will nodded curtly and stomped away without another word.
Mr. Bobbit waddled down Dura Street, clutching the huge covered birdcage. He passed the old de Plancy Cemetery, with Cami, Simon, and Andrew trailing him from afar. They were close enough to hear the honks of the bird beneath the white wrapping every so often.
“Bet you anything he’s headed to the Karnak Center,” Cami said, putting an arm out to stop the guys from running ahead. “Everywhere I turn it’s Pothinus Sab. My mother is really into this guy.”
Simon pulled off his sunglasses, trading them for his indoor pair, which were in the pocket of his black coat. “The Karnak Center? That’s the old Grimma Funeral Home. It’s abandoned, isn’t it?”
“Not anymore,” Cami said. “Mayor Lynch donated it to Sab to open a new center here. My mother told us all about it, and she’d know.” She motioned for her friends to join her behind some weed-choked headstones in the cemetery, where they could secretly watch Bobbit.
The Karnak Cen
ter’s beige stone exterior was protected by a row of ram statues, lined up like angry guard dogs on either side of the main door. A shallow rectangular pool stretched from the steps of the central doorway to the street. But Mr. Bobbit didn’t enter through the main door.
Instead, the fleshy man wound his way through the cemetery and climbed a narrow stairway on the side of the building. At the top of the landing, he coughed into a handkerchief until his face turned red. He then rapped on the metal door. Within moments it opened, permitting Bobbit and his birdcage to vanish into the interior darkness.
Fifty yards away, the kids crouched in the shadow of a big stone angel holding a sword over a dragon. Andrew leaned around the dragon’s head. “We better follow him. I sure ain’t staying out here.”
“Then let’s go in the front door. We’ll tell them we’re visitors,” said Simon. “This is a public center, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure we should go in,” Cami warned. “Maybe we should see what Bobbit does.”
“No way,” Andrew said, starting to move for the Karnak Center. “We need to find out what those guys are up to in there. They’re up to something.”
Outnumbered, Cami threw her hands into the air and joined the boys in their march to the front door.
Simon shied away from the row of menacing rams staring at him as he passed. “Real inviting, isn’t it?” he said, snorting.
“Be quiet and move,” Andrew said, blowing past him and scaling the front stairs. Andrew reached for the doorknob.
“Take it easy, moron,” Simon whispered. “Shouldn’t we knock first?”
“Oh sure. Let’s send a letter announcing our arrival time,” Andrew mumbled. “Do you want to see what’s going on in there or not?”
Cami slipped between the boys. “Stop fighting. If we’re going in, just open the door. Better yet, let me.”
Stepping into the expansive front room, they felt a heaviness in the air. Their bodies stiffened.
Firelight shone on the crimson walls. A shallow rectangular pool like the one outside took up most of the floor space. It was flanked by rows of fat sandstone columns on the left and right. At the back of the room, two massive stone pharaohs stood on either side of a pair of bronze doors that stood fifteen feet high. Engraved onto them was the image of an Egyptian figure that had two tablets coming from the top of his head.
Cami wrinkled her brow. “Are those corncobs on his head?”
“Maybe they’re feathers drawn by a primitive,” Simon suggested.
Andrew scratched his head, considering the image. “Looks like the dude’s got a double cone head to me.”
Before the conversation could continue, voices down the hall intruded.
“My dear, dear friend, I said two fresh geese daily. Two,” the accented voice asserted. “You’ll recall I specifically asked for two. Yes? Where is the other?”
“Well, the ones at the store are on the small side. But I could…” It was Bobbit, and he sounded nervous.
“No matter. I know you will bring more, won’t you? It is most important that we have two fresh, plump geese each morning.”
Cami pulled the guys close to her. “That’s Pothinus Sab. I’d know his voice anywhere. Come to my house and you can hear it round the clock.” She motioned for the boys to follow her so she could hear more clearly. They moved deeper into the room, next to the pool.
“You can count on us, Mr. Sab,” Bobbit said, interrupted by coughs. “I’ll have my stock associate bring another goose over right away. I am still feeling terrible—my stomach aches and this cough…You said that I would be improved by now. But this—” Jagged coughs gagged his speech.
“Your condition puzzles me. I have just the thing for you. Sarsour, fetch us one of the new tonics I made up this morning,” Sab crowed. “Mr. Bobbit, you will feel right as rain after only two doses of this tonic. For all the goodness you offer us, let us offer some goodness to you.”
The tiny man, Sarsour, looking like a red raisin in white, tottered out into the main room and passed between the pool and the polished doors. To avoid detection, Cami, Andrew, and Simon backed into the shadows of two hulking columns. Perhaps they backed up a bit too far.
“Wonder what’s wrong with Bobbit?” Cami asked.
“I’m more interested in what Sab is doing with the geese,” said Simon.
“Do you feel that?” Andrew said.
“Shhh,” Cami hissed. “I’m trying to listen.”
“The floor is shaking,” Andrew whispered.
“I can feel it t—” Simon didn’t finish the word before the floor gave way beneath them. All three friends slipped through the newly revealed hole with great force, tumbling into darkness.
Lucille Wilder removed a chain from her neck and the dangling ancient key it held captive. She laid them on a small table against a whitewashed wall. The chain looped through an ornate gold cross with jagged teeth along the bottom—the key to her father’s office.
Lucille stood at one end of the second-floor ballroom in her home. She retied the cloth belt at the waist of her stylish Asian-inspired workout uniform.
Her blue eyes made contact with a series of trapezes, ropes, and hoops dangling high above the shiny planked floor. At the far end of the room, a menacing black mannequin with cannonlike arms stood at attention. A red laser shot from its head, scanning the room for activity. Lucille took a deep breath, pressed the small remote control button in her hand, dropped it, and ran as if her life depended on it.
She leapt onto a nearby trampoline and flew up to the trapeze. The laser on the mannequin found her. It immediately spit a red ball in her direction. She dodged it by throwing her legs up over the top of the trapeze and bending her body backward. The trapeze swung high and when it nearly reached the ceiling, Lucille somersaulted in midair, close to the ropes on the other side of the room. The laser dot made contact with her head. PLOOP. Out shot another red ball from the mannequin.
With one hand, Lucille clutched the rope not far from her laser-eyed opponent. She straightened her body like a rod and began spinning as if on a mad carousel. The laser couldn’t get a fix on a location, so the black thing shot ball after ball in her general direction. But it was too late. Before any of the balls could strike her, Lucille kicked the mannequin over, pulled a high-powered water gun from the wall, and sprayed the beaten enemy until a pool had formed around it.
“Not bad for an old dame,” she laughed, striking her thigh.
“Not bad at all.” It was Will who had been watching from a half-open door.
“How long have you been there, dear?”
“Long enough to see you kick that thing’s butt.” Will approached her, eyes fixed on the weapon still in her hand. “What’s that?”
“Something Brother Philip whipped up for me. It’s a holy water dispenser—with a bit of a kick.” She handed it to Will.
It looked like a machine gun except for the oblong metal tank above the trigger that held the liquid ammunition.
“So when do I get to train in here?” Will asked.
“This is your lucky day.” She took back the weapon, hanging it on the wall. “Speed and agility are necessary to outmaneuver these demons. You’ve mastered the somersault, but more is needed. Physical training must always accompany our mental and spiritual preparation.”
“Why are you still training so hard?” Will asked.
“Because until you’re ready, I have to protect you, Will.” She took his helmet off and mussed his hair. “As long as I’m around, you’ll be just fine, kid. Now let’s get you up on the ropes.”
Will was troubled and Aunt Lucille could see it. After some questioning, he came clean about his visit to the pet store, Bobbit’s lies, and the raven he saw in the cage. He even told her that Bobbit hated her.
“Why would you even go there, Will? And since I don’t know the man at all, how could he possibly hate me?” Lucille wondered.
“Well, he does. His assistant at the shop told me everything.”
Will began to untie the laces of his red sneakers. “Something about this whole thing scares me. The missing staff, Max’s dream, Bobbit’s lies…I think I should look at the prophecy again. To at least see if the book opens.” The Book of Prophecy only opened when touched by the “chosen one,” and only if the time was ripe for the next message to be revealed.
Aunt Lucille turned to the huge windows covering one wall of the ballroom. She stared out at Peniel, high atop the jagged cliff behind her house. “You should consult the book again. Perhaps tomorrow, dear. There’s no time now. I’ve invited your parents over to discuss training your brother and sister. Leo can’t just be igniting all over town—”
“I’m confused, Aunt Lucille.” Will was on his feet. “I have this sick feeling that something bad is happening and maybe if I read the prophecy…”
“Are you seeing things again? Shadows?”
“Not really shadows…” He focused on his sneakers. “Feathers. Black raven feathers.”
“Bartimaeus told me about the feathers. Anything else?”
“No, but if I could see the prophecy—”
“You must be careful with the Book of Prophecy, Will,” Aunt Lucille scolded him. “Once you open it, there is no going back. It doesn’t merely reveal things. At times it initiates them. Better to let events unfold. Watch what happens and then once we have confirmation that things are amiss—”
“Things are amiss? How much more amiss do they have to get?” He pulled out the list of plagues Simon had given him earlier. He raised them to Aunt Lucille’s face. “This is what’s coming, Aunt Lucille. It’s already started.”
“I know. Oh, and that was blood in the river by the way.” She coolly scanned the lines on the paper. Something she read caused a knowing smile to wash over her, and she snatched the paper from Will. “Your list is a little overblown. The staff only controls six of these plagues. I’ve been doing my own research.” Lucille picked up a pen from the small table where her key lay. Will’s eyes widened when he spotted the office key, which he instantly recognized.
Will Wilder #2 Page 9
