The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga)

by Fletcher, MJ

  How the hell could this be possible? A few minutes ago we were in Paris, weren’t we? I mean I wasn’t feeling well and all that stuff with the guy dressed in black. Maybe I was having some type of break down.

  How did we get here? I looked out the window double checking to make sure this wasn’t some odd dream. Sure enough I could see Grandma’s rose bushes peeking up underneath the window. My stomach was starting to settle and I felt like I might be able to stand. I swung my legs off the side of the couch and placed them firmly on the floor. I knew this house like the back of my hand, this wasn’t a dream. The scorch marks around the fireplace were exactly like I remember, heck even the crack in the wood floor where I had always tripped as a kid was there.

  I pushed off the couch and stepped out of the living room into the main hallway. The front door was to the left where Dad had gone and down the other way was the kitchen. He’d told me to stay in the house and since I still wasn’t sure what was going on, it seemed like a good idea.

  I rested my hand on the wall to maintain my balance and turned to get a drink of water from the kitchen when the whole house shuddered like it’d been hit by a bomb. I grabbed the doorframe and held on as everything shook, the sound of glass crashing floated toward me from the kitchen.

  “What the hell was that?” I spun around and saw light glimmering under the front door, similar to what had happened when the man in black had attacked us. And Dad was outside!

  I ran for the front door fighting against my unsteadiness and grabbed the doorknob. A rush of adrenaline washed over my body like never before. I turned the knob, swung the door open and walked into a world of insanity.

  Dad was at the bottom of the porch stairs and his hands were glowing azure blue, which wasn’t that odd since I had seen him do that trick a ton of times in his magic act. The odd part was the man who stood next to him, his hands glowed crimson and he swung them at my dad.

  “Dad!” Instinct took over and I went for Dad not paying attention to what was going on around me. As soon as the red glow touched my head it blurred my vision and as it started to rush over me, my hair stood on end. The power built like a vise around me and I squeezed my eyes closed and tensed waiting for the impact.

  Instead a strong arm slipped around my waist and I was yanked aside and into the air as if I weighed nothing more than a feather. I opened my eyes to see a man holding me while his other arm, actually his tight fist, slammed my attacker in the face. My would-be assailant’s head snapped back and he dropped from the forceful blow.

  “You okay?”

  My new friend still had one arm around my waist and he kind of balanced me against his hip. I was shocked to see that he appeared to be about my age—who am I kidding—I was more shocked to see how good looking he was. His dark blue-grey eyes stared at me with concern and he wore a wide smile. In the middle of a fight and the guy is smiling. Damn if that didn’t smack of confidence.

  “Yeah.” I nodded dumbly and immediately regretted it. Great, the guy saves your life and you say ‘yeah’, that’s really showing your gratitude. I gently pushed at his arm, stepping away from him, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with the closeness.

  “Stay here,” he said and spun around pulling what looked like a massive wrench off his belt and ran to the other end of the porch at the guy who had just vaulted the railing and was heading in our direction.

  My new best friend—yup, I elevated him from new to best since he was doing an awesome job of kicking ass—met him half way and swung his wrench like the mighty hammer of Thor. His opponent’s arm shot up and he did some trick where he created a shield of blue out of nowhere. Neat trick, I needed to remember that one.

  I looked around for my dad and saw that he was still engaged in a fight with the same guy but they were now in the street. Sparks of energy flew in every direction as they battled back and forth. None of this made any sense but it all felt so real, I mean could I be dreaming or was this actually happening?

  As the daughter of a magician I’ve been taught to question everything and I always tried to figure out the trick behind the illusion. But these bizarre things that were happening right in front of me, I was having a hard time explaining away.

  The grunts from across the porch snapped me back to my current situation. My would-be hero was fighting off another guy but the one he had laid out earlier had stumbled to his feet and headed for my friend. I wasn’t about to let that happen.

  I closed the distance between us in two long steps, brought my foot up and snapped it into the back of his knee. It buckled from the hit and he fell to the ground. He sneered, no groan, no scream, just a sneer. What was this guy made of... steel? He brought his arm up and I knew what was coming. He was pulling the glowing-red-arm trick. My stomach turned as he did it and I didn’t wait to see how the trick ended. I shot my hand out and cracked him square in the face. He was stunned and fell backwards smacking his head on the porch floor.

  “Nice.”

  I glanced up to see my rescuer smiling in my direction again. I did my best not to blush but I know I failed miserably.

  “Thanks.” I couldn’t help but stare. The guy stood over six feet and was built like he had spent a lot of time using that wrench and not just on people. He had short brown hair and his smile appeared natural as if he wore it all the time. I bit my lip and forced myself to change gears. I wasn’t about to turn into some starry-eyed girl in the middle of all this craziness. “What’s going on?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? An attack,” he grinned, rushed passed me and jumped off the top of the stairs tackling another man who was racing toward my dad.

  The tips of my fingers began to tingle and the sensation rushed up my arms and rained down over my body. I wasn’t the only one feeling it. Dad glanced around like he was expecting something to happen. Without warning Dad’s opponent turned and ran and did something I didn’t expect at all. He performed Dad’s Disappearing-Man trick. A crimson door suddenly appeared out of nowhere and he opened it, ran in, and the door disappeared behind him. I’d never seen anyone else do that trick but Dad; he’d never even shown me how to perform it.

  The other attackers began to do the same, some disappearing through red doors others through blue like my father’s. Then a new set of doors appeared glowing silver and two men stepped out, both wore rumpled coats and gray fedoras. The larger of the two walked straight toward Dad and they began talking.

  I started down the porch steps and my rescuer grabbed my arm stopping me. “You better not.” He smiled and I for some reason believed him, though that didn’t mean I couldn’t question him.

  “Why, what is all of this? And who are you?”

  “Slade, Michael Slade.” He offered his hand and I took it, his large hand swallowing mine in a firm grip. “You’re Chloe right?”

  “Yes, Chloe Masters.” So not only did this Slade guy save my butt, he already knew who I was. “Who are they?” I pointed to the two men talking to my dad.

  “HVO most likely.” He shrugged and sat down on the porch stairs.

  “What’s an HVO?” I sat down beside him watching Dad and trying to figure out just what was going on.

  “Honorable and Venerable Order of Detective Inspectors, they’re like the police for our kind.”

  “Our kind?”

  “That’s a little harder to explain, I think I better leave that to your dad. Suffice it to say... we’re the good guys.”

  “And you?”

  “Me,” he chuckled and leaned back to rest against the step, “I hope I’m one of the good guys.”

  “Thanks for the assist earlier, I don’t know what that guy had planned for me and I’m glad I didn’t find out.”

  “No worries, your dad called in a favor and I was glad to help out.”

  “You make a habit of busting heads with a wrench?” Good, Chloe, be sarcastic to the hot guy who just helped you. I can be such a wiseass at times as my last boyfriend loved to remind me.

  I was surprised he kept
smiling at me and chuckled again. “Whenever I get the chance and that seems to be a lot these days.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Something else your dad is probably better off explaining.”

  “He’s got a lot of explaining to do.” I narrowed my eyes and kept a watch on Dad as he spoke casually with the men who looked like they belonged in some classic, old black and white movie. “Why aren’t there cops or fire trucks all over the place?” I looked up and down the block shocked that the neighbors hadn’t congregated outside to watch the strange light show and chaos that had ensued.

  “Dimensional shift... always happens with Old Kind battles.”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but he seemed to think it was such an obvious explanation.

  “Um, okay.”

  “I better get going.” Slade stepped off the porch and I found myself standing as well.

  I wouldn’t have minded if he wanted to stick around since he obviously knew what was going on whereas I knew nothing. I smiled, unsure of what to say to keep him there so I brilliantly said, “Sure, if you have too.”

  He walked off with a wave and I watched him head down the block and turn the corner. Nice, good looking and way better off with a girl who wasn’t as broken as me. I shook my head not even wanting to think about it.

  “I see you met Slade.”

  I turned my head to see Dad walking across the lawn, the two men nowhere in sight. “What’s going on?”

  Dad leaned over me and smiled. “Let’s go inside and talk.”

  I followed him into the house and he closed the door behind us.

  “What’s the last thing you remember that happened in Paris?” he asked as he walked down the hall toward the kitchen.

  I entered behind him. The explosion— or whatever had shaken the house— had knocked over glasses and dishes shattering them. Dad grabbed the broom and started sweeping up.

  The explosion and the image of the man in black rushing towards us in Paris projected clear in my mind and sent a shiver up my spine. “Running,” I answered feeling like we had finally stopped or had we?

  “Let’s say we didn’t quite get away clean.” Dad picked up the dustpan and swept the last of the broken shards onto it. He dipped it into the trash and shook the last bits off.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? I’ve had enough of the crazies for one day; I want to hear it all. What’s going on?” Frustration crept into my voice. I didn’t want to sound nasty but I already had one parent lie to me and disappear in the middle of the night. And it scared me to death to think I’d lose another.

  “We’re home, Chloe, or the closest thing vagabonds like us can call home. Everything that happened tonight has an explanation but I need to be sure that you’re ready to hear it.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The stunt you pulled in Paris was dangerous and then I told you to stay in the house and you didn’t listen. You could have gotten hurt.”

  “Maybe if I knew what was going on it would make it easier for me to listen. None of what happened today makes any sense and what about that guy you were fighting? He used your trick to disappear. I’ve never seen anyone able to do that trick but you.”

  “Trick,” Dad sighed, leaning back against the kitchen counter. He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. I knew he was searching for just the right words. “I always told you I’d teach you that trick someday. The thing is—it’s not a trick—it’s something much, much more than that. It’s time you learned, you need to know everything. That’s part of the reason I brought us home.”

  I didn’t like the sound of that and so I kept silent.

  “We’re not just here for a pit stop this time,”—he took a breath and then let me have it— “it’s time you went to a proper school.”

  “Are you kidding me? You don’t mean—” I shook my head. He couldn’t do this to me. He just couldn’t. This night was crazy enough, I wasn’t even sure what had happened and now he lays this on me? I didn’t want to go to some regular school. I’d traveled with my family my whole life, I’d seen more of the world than most people and that’s the way I liked it.

  “Yes, I do mean that it’s time you attended the Paladin Academy.”

  “Dad, we talked about this and I told you that I don’t want to go to some stupid prep school just because it’s family tradition. I’m already enough of a freak as it is. And if you think you can do this to distract me from everything that happened tonight you’re crazy.”

  Could this day get any worse? Shut up, I warned myself since it just might. I’d been worried about this since the day Mom deserted us. I was always afraid Dad would decide it was time for us to settle down. I liked our life and all of its craziness; it also kept me from having to think about Mom.

  “This isn’t debatable.”

  “Just great.” I walked out of the room, Dad following me into the living room. I dropped down on the couch, deflated and wanting to argue but knowing it was useless. “Now are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

  “Soon, but for the moment we both need a good night sleep. We can talk about this tomorrow.”

  I didn’t know if Dad was just trying to avoid explaining what seemed impossible to explain or if he knew just how tired I really was. I could feel it in my bones like I had run a marathon or swam the English Channel.

  “Is anyone else here?” I decided to give him the night and start fresh tomorrow.

  “Nope, your grandparents are on one of their round-the-world trips again. No rest for the retired so it would seem. So the house is all ours.”

  “Which room?” Since I was little I had slept in all five bedrooms in the house, never knowing which one I could call mine. If I was going to be here for a while, I hoped it wasn’t one of the smaller ones.

  “Since we’ll be staying here while you attend school...”

  I sneered at the comment and thought I still might be able to make him reconsider when we talked tomorrow.

  “Hmmm, and you never know when your grandparents will be returning or if Uncle Archie will be visiting, so I think you need to have a room where you won’t be disturbed.” He grinned and it got wider by the minute.

  I rolled my eyes and scrolled through my texts looking for a distraction. Nothing was going my way and nothing made sense anymore, but then it hadn’t for a while, and so I said, “Any room will do.”

  “Alright then let’s see shall we?” And with that Dad walked from the room and headed for the stairs.

  I reluctantly followed him up the flight of stairs. We didn’t stop at the second floor, we turned heading up to the third... the attic.

  Why the attic? Curious, I continued after him and through the open door and came to a dead stop.

  Dad stood in the middle of the attic. Gone were years of collected junk replaced with an old four poster bed and nightstand, two dressers sat off to the sides. I spun around in a circle amazed at the massive space. The only remnants of what it once contained were old luggage and traveling trunks that were tucked in a far corner.

  “How?”

  “Before your grandparents left we talked about you attending school. They cleaned it out for you. You need a proper room and you always loved this musty old place.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” I smiled, not a sight he was used to lately.

  “No worries, just remember this feeling of gratitude the next time I ground you,” he said with a laugh and headed for the door. “I got some people coming over to help us move in tomorrow. Sleep tight.”

  Dad left me alone and I looked around my new room, my glance settling on my reflection in the full length mirror that sat to the right side of the bed. I pushed my blonde hair away from eyes and behind my ear, my fingers sliding over the multiple piercings I had gotten in the last two years. Dark mascara surrounded my blue eyes... my mom’s eyes as Dad always reminded.

  I plopped down on the bed thinking about the last time I’d been in the attic. It had been r
ight after Mom had left. I’d never seen it coming. We were always a happy family, my parents’ show tours taking us all over the world. Dad and Mom were a team and I was the tagalong kid who loved every minute of it. I’d spent more time in foreign countries then I had in the United States.

  They always said we’d come back to Cape May for more than a visit one day and I would attend the Paladin Academy like they had. But then Dad had returned to our hotel room that fateful night and told me that Mom was gone and we had to leave. We came here to Cape May and my father and grandparents tried to keep me occupied so I couldn’t think about my mom leaving us, but it didn’t work. I snuck off to the attic every chance I got. I’d bury myself between the old trunks and cry for a mom that didn’t want me. I couldn’t understand why she had left. Had I done something wrong? Didn’t she love me anymore? I got no answers then when I was six and I still have no answers now at sixteen.

  Dad never really explained what happened between him and Mom, and I got the feeling he had been as devastated as I had been that she left. We left eventually and returned to being the vagabonds we still are today, traveling from one show to the next from country to country. Never looking back, always ahead.

  Dad had said it would be just like always. But it wasn’t without Mom and we both knew it. He told me she loved me and hadn’t wanted to leave me and that I shouldn’t blame her. But I didn’t believe him and I don’t think he believed it either.

  It was another one of the Masters’ famous family secrets. We have lots of those; like why was it that our family went to a prestigious prep school that was nearly impossible to get into and that we really couldn’t afford or what exactly was it that most of our family did for a living? I mean I love Uncle Archie but it seemed to me that he had never had a job in his life. It’s not like we were rich or anything. Mom and Dad were always complaining about money.

  I had too many thoughts racing through my mind and I collapsed onto the bed yanking my hoodie off and throwing it aside. I shoved my face into the pillow and closed my eyes letting sleep overtake me. The last image I saw before I feel asleep was of the man in black surrounded by crimson light in Paris. He was dangerous. I knew it and I had a feeling he wasn’t done with us yet.