A Tangle of Secrets

by R. G. Thomas

  “Come on, Miriam,” Rudyard said. “Let’s pack up his things and see if he’ll understand.”

  “We’ll bury Lucian’s body,” Thaddeus’s father said. “Give you all some privacy.”

  “I’m torn now,” Astrid said as she watched her parents packing up Fetter’s things. “We finally found Fetter, and he’s going to need to adjust to a lot of us back home. But I really want to go to Golgonthoria.”

  Teofil put a hand on her shoulder. “Go with Dulindir. You’ve always wanted to see Golgonthoria. I’ll make sure Fetter knows who you are so when you get home he’ll be there waiting.”

  “Yeah?”

  Teofil nodded. “Yeah.”

  Astrid smiled as tears filled her eyes. “We did it, Teofil. We found him.”

  “We did,” Teofil said. Thaddeus had to wipe away more tears as Astrid and Teofil clung together in a tight hug.

  “Be careful,” Teofil said when they parted.

  “I’m the older one here,” Astrid said. “I should be saying that to you.”

  “I’d expect it, if I was running off with an elf.”

  Astrid sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m not running off. I’m escorting prisoners to be sentenced.”

  “I see no difference,” Teofil said with a smirk.

  “You’re a real thorny thistle sometimes, you know that?”

  “I love you too,” Teofil said.

  Astrid rewarded him with a smile. “Make sure Fetter knows I’m the next oldest child.”

  “Oh, puke,” Maggart said and made a face.

  Dulindir touched two fingers to the back of Maggart’s neck. The Changeling’s expression went slack, and he stared straight ahead with his mouth slightly open.

  “Oh, wow.” Astrid slowly circled Maggart, then looked at Dulindir. “Can you teach me that trick? I could use it on Teofil.”

  Thaddeus grinned. And that quickly, the touching moment between siblings had ended.

  “Ha-ha,” Teofil said in a sarcastic tone. “Wait until you see what I do to your bed while you’re gone.”

  “What? No!” Astrid looked aghast. “You’d better not touch my bed.”

  Teofil shrugged and looked away as he grinned.

  Rudyard, Miriam, and Fetter stepped out of the cabin. Fetter carried a bed sheet with the ends knotted together over a number of items. Miriam smiled at the rest of them and said, “He doesn’t have much, but we’ll make sure he has more than enough once we get him home.”

  Astrid approached Fetter. She started to lean in for a hug but saw his expression of fright and decided against it. Instead, she put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. “I’ll see you soon, Fetter.”

  “Fet-her?” he whispered.

  She laughed as tears spilled down her cheeks. “That’s right! That’s who you are.” She spoke very slowly as she nodded for him to try. “Fetter.”

  “Fet-ter,” he said, and flashed a quick smile as they all laughed. Encouraged, he said it again, faster. “Fetter.”

  Miriam pointed at him. “That’s you, my love. You’re Fetter.”

  He pointed to himself. “Fetter?”

  Miriam nodded, then pointed to Astrid. “Astrid.”

  “Astrid,” Fetter repeated. He cocked his head and smiled. “Astrid.” He pointed to himself. “Fetter.”

  “Oh, Mum,” Astrid said, and smiled at Miriam. “Do you think things will be okay now?”

  “I do, my love.” Miriam pulled her into a strong hug. “Go on now. And be careful.” She gave Dulindir a stern look. “You keep her safe, and bring her home to us.”

  “You have my word.” Dulindir placed a hand over his heart and bowed at the waist.

  “Come along,” Vivienne said. “We should set out now.”

  Thaddeus watched as Astrid, Dulindir, Vivienne, and Rudyard lined up Logan, Azzo, and the unusually quiet and subdued Maggart, and marched them across the clearing. The group vanished into the Tangle, and when they were out of sight, Fetter whispered, “Bye-bye.”

  Thaddeus’s father and mother had pulled Lucian’s body out of the pond, and Nathan approached them. “Let’s get this last job done, and then we can all go home. I think I saw shovels inside the cabin.”

  There were two short shovels leaning against a wall, and Thaddeus and Teofil each took one before setting out to explore the ground along the edge of the Tangle.

  “This area is soft,” Teofil said. “Let’s dig here.”

  By the time they had dug deep enough, dawn lightened the sky, and the others had wrapped Lucian’s body in sheets from Fetter’s bed. Thaddeus stood back as his father and mother lowered the body into the grave, then gratefully handed off the shovel when his father reached for it.

  “You rest,” his father said. “We’ll cover him up.”

  Thaddeus followed Teofil back to the cabin, and they sat with their backs against the outer wall, facing east to watch the sun rise. They were silent for a long time, and then Thaddeus thought of a question and turned his head to look at Teofil’s profile.

  “How did you three find the Tangle?”

  “We had been doing research on Bearagon sightings, like you and I did,” Teofil said. “Vivienne helped us with some of the research at the library. Then Dulindir realized that the sightings seemed to be leading right to this place. Astrid and I had never learned about the Deslidelindre Junction, so we didn’t know about its magical history.”

  “You came here on foot?” Thaddeus asked.

  Teofil shrugged. “We walked through the Lost Forest, so this wasn’t too bad of a hike.” He looked at the tightly packed trees and plants of the Tangle. “I never imagined we’d find all of this.”

  “Fetter has been busy all these years,” Thaddeus said. “He must have been really lonely.”

  “I can’t imagine,” Teofil whispered. After some time, he continued. “Once we reached the edge of the Tangle, it felt familiar to me, you know? It must have been a recognition of the magic within our family or something. Astrid felt it too, and we were able to find our way through it pretty easily. That’s when we arrived here at the clearing.”

  Guilt welled up within Thaddeus as he thought about how he had reacted. He looked down at his hands, dirty and blistered from digging the grave. “I’m sorry about how I acted, and the cruel things I said. I’ve been so…. Andy… well, Maggart, was influencing me, and the Bitter Burr affected my thoughts and emotions. When you were talking to Leopold’s spirit, and he warned you about me, it really hurt. It seemed like you and Leopold were pushing me away, and I had no idea how to get you back. I didn’t realize it was happening because of me, because of what was happening to me.”

  Teofil took his hand, being gentle with it because of the blisters. “Apology accepted. You didn’t know what was going on. And I knew something wasn’t quite right about Andy, but I didn’t know how to explain it. Lucian and all of them went to a lot of trouble to find your family and try to influence you.”

  Thaddeus shook his head. “That’s so crazy. I never thought of myself as being very important.”

  Teofil gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “You’re very important to me.”

  Thaddeus smiled. “You’re important to me too.” They were quiet again, watching the sun slowly rise above the Tangle. He had a thought and grimaced before saying, “I wonder if Lucian killed the previous world history teacher so they’d need to hire him?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. And Azzo’s assumed a new appearance, so that man may be dead as well.”

  “So many casualties from all of this,” Thaddeus said with a slow shake of his head.

  “Hey, they’re not your fault,” Teofil said. “That was all Lucian and his crazy need for revenge, and Azzo following along with him.”

  “Yeah, I know, but it’s still really messed up. And then they left Fetter out here to live all by himself since he was only three. Who does that to a child?”

  Teofil’s face tightened, and he looked away. “Monsters, that’s who.” He took a deep brea
th and let it out, then looked across the clearing to where Fetter sat on the ground a short distance from the others, watching them bury Lucian. “I hope he’ll be okay.”

  “Your family will see to that,” Thaddeus said.

  He looked over in time to see his father throw a last shovelful of dirt on the grave, then pat it down before he stepped back and used the hem of his shirt to wipe sweat from his brow. Fetter got to his feet and approached the grave. He stood beside Miriam and took her hand, then waved his free hand above the fresh dirt. Grass sprouted up, perfectly blending the grave into the surrounding area. With another hand motion, Fetter summoned a long, snaky tendril out of the Tangle. It stabbed into the ground and wound around itself until it stood above the grass like a marker. Small, dark red blooms sprouted along the green and brought a tear to Thaddeus’s eye.

  “Lucian was probably the only interaction Fetter has had all these years,” Teofil said. “I hope it hasn’t done him any damage.”

  “Me too,” Thaddeus said.

  His father and mother, Miriam, and Fetter approached. Nathan carried the bundled sheet that held Fetter’s belongings.

  “You two ready to head for home?” his father asked.

  “More than ready.” Thaddeus groaned as he got to his feet.

  “Teofil, do you know the way out?” Miriam asked.

  “Out?” Fetter tugged on Miriam’s hand and pointed. A narrow path had opened in the Tangle not far from the cabin.

  “I think Fetter’s more than able to lead us out,” Teofil said with a smile.

  They started off along the trail in a single file, all of them quiet as the plants pressed in around them. The air was brisk, and Thaddeus shivered as he wondered what would become of the Tangle if Fetter wasn’t living there to tend to it. His tired mind considered the thought as he walked behind Fetter and Miriam, wheeling his bicycle over the roots and small hillocks of vegetation. Before he knew it, they came out of the Tangle into woods not far back from a two-lane asphalt road. It was a different spot from the place where Dixon and his followers had brought them, and Thaddeus wondered how far they had walked. Teofil relieved Thaddeus’s father of the bundle of Fetter’s belongings, and Nathan thanked him. As a group they were all filthy and bloody, and they would definitely attract attention on the walk back. Then he realized it was at least twenty-five miles to Superstition from Stoker’s Mill and groaned.

  “It’s a long walk home,” he said.

  “Yes,” his father replied, then grinned. “But we drove. And the car is parked not too far away just off the shoulder of this road.”

  Thaddeus breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, “Hey, how did you know where to go? How did you find the Tangle?”

  “I discovered Teofil and Astrid’s notes in the study,” Miriam said and smiled at Teofil. “I like to consider myself an involved mother.”

  They all laughed and walked through the woods to the road. Thaddeus’s father and mother held hands, and the sight made Thaddeus smile. Maybe now that Lucian was gone, his mother would stop having nightmares.

  The Toyota wasn’t far away, and once they reached it, Thaddeus and his father put his bicycle and Fetter’s belongings in the trunk as Miriam convinced Fetter it was safe to get into the car. She climbed into the back, and he cautiously slid onto the seat beside her. Teofil sat next to him, and Thaddeus sat scrunched up on the end. Thaddeus’s parents got into the front seats, and when his father started the car, Fetter let out a shout of fear. Miriam and Teofil reassured him until he quieted down, and once they got under way, Fetter’s expression shifted from fear to interest to joy as the wind from the half-open driver’s window blew his long hair back and ruffled his beard.

  Yes, Thaddeus thought, and closed his eyes. Everything might be okay after all.

  Chapter TWENTY-FOUR

  THE REST of Saturday morning was a blur. After they had all cleaned up—Thaddeus thought a shower had never felt so good—and tended to their injuries, Thaddeus and his parents sat at the kitchen table.

  “I know you’re tired, but we need to come up with something you can tell people at school,” his father said. “Your friends Crystal and Marty may call or come by to see if you’re all right and ask what happened to Andy and Mr. Elder. And the police may have been called as well.”

  His father’s mention of calling reminded Thaddeus of his phone, which he had lost somewhere along the way. He felt a little nervous as he said, “I lost my cell phone.”

  “I’m not surprised,” his mother said, “with all you went through. We’ll get you another one soon.”

  Thaddeus nodded and focused on what to say to people. He was going to need to tell some whoppers of lies, similar to what they had said back in Iron Gulch after everything had happened. It seemed ironic to be sitting there willfully working up lies after the days he’d spent being angry at his father for lying to him. He looked at his father, swallowed his pride, and said, “I’m sorry about all the things I said. I guess choosing whether or not to tell the truth about a situation isn’t quite as cut and dried as I would have liked to think.”

  His father smiled sadly. “Let’s hope this is the last time either of us has to choose to lie.”

  After a little more than an hour of discussion, they finally had a story that they all thought would hold up, even under police questioning.

  Thaddeus would tell them that after the Bearagon had appeared—which he thought was a very large, angry bear—Mr. Elder had taken him and Andy off into the Tangle to hide. Thaddeus had become separated from them in the Tangle and had spent hours trying to find his way out. When he had finally stumbled out of the woods and onto the side of the road, he had called his father to come pick him up. He had no idea what had become of Andy or Mr. Elder. If Dixon or Joy or Mr. Winslow mentioned that Thaddeus had moved the car, he would just say it never happened and they had become confused in all the confusion and panic.

  The three of them went over the story several times, and when they were satisfied, they sat back in their chairs and nodded to each other.

  “That should work,” Thaddeus’s father said.

  “I wonder if they’ll search the woods for them?” Thaddeus asked.

  “Most likely,” his father said. “We should all be prepared to join in if needed.”

  “Ugh,” Thaddeus said and put his head down on his arms on the table. He had a thought and lifted his head again. “Hey, how did you manage to perform magic when the clearing was full of nacht macabre?”

  His mother smiled. “It was Miriam’s idea. She remembered a plant that counteracted the effects of the nacht macabre, called ravisse blume. She sent several of their kids out into the woods, and they brought lots of it back.”

  “They planted some in the yard next door too,” his father added. “So we’ll always have a pure source of it.”

  “Those were the necklaces you were all wearing?” Thaddeus asked.

  His father nodded. “That’s right. Teofil, Astrid, and Dulindir were already gone by the time we got the plants, so they didn’t have the necklaces with them, that’s why they couldn’t perform magic in the clearing.”

  A yawn crept up on Thaddeus, and his parents both yawned soon after. They all laughed and got up from the table to head upstairs for some much-needed sleep. After weeks of bad dreams and disturbed sleep because of the Bitter Burr, Thaddeus was glad that he fell under fast and managed several hours of deep and dreamless sleep.

  When he awoke, it was late afternoon, and he wondered if he’d be able to get to sleep later that night. He yawned and stretched, then got out of bed and pulled on jeans and a sweatshirt. He logged into his Facebook account to see if any of the kids who had been at the Tangle had posted about what happened. There were a number of posts about a bear, and even one very blurry and shaky video that gave Thaddeus shivers to watch, but he didn’t see a mention of him, Andy, or Mr. Elder.

  After several minutes of scrolling through posts, he noticed he had a message waiting. It was from Aisha,
and he smiled as he read it.

  Dude! I finally talked her into it! We’re moving to Superstition! I lost my phone charger and my battery died, so if you texted me I didn’t know it. We’re coming to town this weekend to look for an apartment. Make sure you put that bully in his place by the time I start school, because I am not putting up with his crap. See you soon!

  Thaddeus grinned and wrote a quick note back to let her know he had lost his own phone and looked forward to seeing her. When he opened his bedroom door, he was surprised to see his mother coming out of his father’s bedroom, her eyes half-open and mouth stretched wide in a yawn as she shuffled toward the bathroom. She stopped when she saw him, and they smiled at each other.

  “Did you sleep well?” she asked.

  “Really well,” he replied. “How about you?” He blushed, then asked, “And Dad?”

  She smiled. “He’s still fast asleep. Not even snoring.”

  Thaddeus grinned. “I’m glad you’ve moved into the bedroom with him.”

  She pulled him into a tight hug. “Lucian was lying, you know. Your father is your father, not Lucian.”

  Thaddeus nodded. “I know. I’ve known that all along.”

  “Well, I wanted to make sure you really knew it,” she said. “No more secrets.”

  “I agree. Let’s leave all the secrets back inside the Tangle.”

  “I like that.” She gave him another quick hug. “Now, I really have to pee.”

  “Oh, sorry. Go ahead. I’m going to visit the Rhododendrons.”

  “All right. We’ll come over later once your father wakes up.”

  Thaddeus got as far as the kitchen, then remembered something. He got an empty peanut butter jar and lid from the recycle bin behind the house and returned to his room. The Bitter Burr lay inside his desk drawer where he had left it, the hard shell lined with tiny prickers. Thaddeus shivered at the sight of it, then used two pens to pick it up and drop it into the jar. He put the lid on and carried it with him as he went back downstairs and left the house.

  He had a few hours until sunset, and he wanted to take advantage of the daylight that remained. Upon entering the Rhododendron backyard, Thaddeus stopped at the sight of Fetter kneeling in front of one of the many flowerbeds with several of his younger siblings spread out around him. Fetter had been given a bath, and his hair and beard had been combed and a couple of inches trimmed off each. His long white hair had been gathered into a ponytail that hung down his back, and he wore what Thaddeus figured were some of Rudyard’s old clothes.