“What’s that?” Maddie was still watching the girls’ slow progress. “A wagon? Oh, I s’pose you mean for the statue. Well now, let’s see. My girls did have an old red wagon way back when, but I don’t recall if it’s still around. Maybe somewhere in that garage. Haven’t been in there in ages.”
On the other side of the house was a small detached garage. As Adam and Dominic followed Maddie toward the old wooden garage door, Adam felt a little nervous. He had seen the house. What on earth would the garage be like? The inside, though, proved to not be too bad. Crowded and dusty, but there was room for walking around between the giant overflowing work bench and the old rusty car.
Once Adam’s eyes adjusted to the dim, he looked around for a wagon. Dominic and Maddie had disappeared on the other side of the car. Adam wasn’t seeing anything that looked useful.
“Maddie, what’s this?” came Dominic’s voice.
Adam hurried over.
“Oh, for land’s sakes,” said Maddie. “I’d forgotten all about that thing. Well, it’s just perfect, isn’t it?”
Sure enough, a bike was standing there, significantly less rusty than the ones the girls were picking through outside. Attatched to the bike with metal supports was something that looked like a side car. It must have been made for a child, though, because Adam would never have fit inside much less an adult.
“Messenger bike,” said Maddie. “Was a day they used to deliver packages and such by bike and not in them big brown trucks. My man, he liked all that old timey stuff. Bought this thing at an auction and never would get rid of it. Never would get rid of any one thing, much as I might nag at him. Man was a collector.”
Adam let out a snort that he tried to cover with a cough. Maddie paid no attention. She was already helping Dominic pull the messenger bike free of the surrounding mess.
It was only a half an hour later that they found themselves standing on the front walk next to four more or less working bicycles. The Medusa was tucked securely into the side car of the messenger bike. Maddie had a good supply of rope around, so they had used a bit of it to belt her in. It definitely wouldn’t fall, but Adam seriously hoped that thing didn’t start jumping around while Dominic was riding.
They made it to the outskirts of town with no incident. The Medusa stayed still, and Adam took a turn on the messenger bike halfway so that Dominic could rest his legs. Riding the odd contraption was a little awkward, but once Adam got the hang of it, he was able to keep up with the others. Still, he was happy to see the end of the houses.
He stopped where his friends were standing on the shoulder of State Road 14, headed west out of Dunmore and up into the mountains. They had decided on West because that was the direction the statues seemed to move.
“You guys ready?” asked Dominic.
“Ready as we’ll ever be,” said Eve.
The boys unstrapped the statue, set her upright, and stepped back.
Nothing happened.
“So this one isn’t quite like the bunny,” said Eve. “I guess it wasn’t you it was running from after all, Adam.”
They waited a moment.
“Are we sure that this one is really the same kind of stone?” asked Alex.
“Maddie seemed pretty sure,” said Dominic.
They waited a minute more.
“Wait,” said Eve. “This one isn’t like the rabbit. Something was weird about the rabbit. But Maddie said the other ones never move unless they think you aren’t looking. Everyone come over here and look the other way.” When they did, she started talking in a loud, false voice, “Oh, look at those clouds. They are so light and fluffy today.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Adam saw the Medusa hop a few feet down the road. His heart leapt with her, and it was all he could do not to turn and stare. When none of them responded, the Medusa moved a few yards more.
“Okay, and casually wander in her direction,” said Eve, pushing her bike and still looking up at the sky.
“She’s headed west, just like we guessed,” said Adam.
“She stops when you look at her, Adam. Just keep looking at the clouds,” whispered Eve. Then, louder, “Man, that sky is so blue.”
“Can we pretend to look at something else?” said Alex. “My neck is already starting to hurt.”
Hours later, Adam glanced at his watch. It was already past noon. Dominic was getting a sandwich out of his backpack. They kept walking, pushing their useless bikes. Adam’s feet and calves were starting to ache. They’d been going uphill for the last hour or so. If this thing was really headed into the mountains, they’d never be able to follow it all the way. They had another hour or two at the most before they would have to turn back to make it home by dark.
Adam’s stomach growled. He yanked open his own bag and rummaged around for his lunch.
It got quiet for a few minutes. By that point, only Eve was really still trying to maintain the conversation, and even she couldn’t talk non-stop while eating. Everyone looked tired and irritated. Sooner or later they were going to have to give up, but Adam didn’t want to be the one to bring it up, so he just kept walking, forcing himself to only drink half of his water, so he’d have some for the walk home. Without meaning to, he stared at the Medusa, willing it to do something more interesting than hop along.
The statue stopped. Adam quickly looked away, but apparently the statue still thought it would be noticed because it just sat there. Eve tried half-heartedly to point out some pink flowers by the side of the road.
“Look, guys, aren’t those pretty?”
“Yeah,” said Adam absently.
No one else responded. The Medusa wasn’t moving.
“Um, maybe we need to be a little more interested in those flowers,” said Eve pointedly. “Maybe we should walk toward them and even PICK SOME.”
“I don’t think we are supposed to pick flowers out here,” said Adam.
Eve rolled her eyes. “No, but if we WALK TOWARD them maybe that will help some.”
Alex nodded. “Right. Let’s go see. They really are pretty.”
They took a few steps down off the bank at the side of the road. There were several different varieties of wildflowers, but the ones Eve had pointed out were the only pink ones. Suddenly Alex stopped and then hurried forward. “They really are pretty! They really are… Look, you guys!”
She bent down by the flowers. They were veriblossoms.
“I thought those were supposed to be really rare,” said Adam.
“They are,” said Alex, carefully breaking off a stem and holding one up. “Nearly impossible to find, the Gylf said.”
“Why did you pick it?!” Adam said. “You aren’t supposed to pick flowers out here, and especially not one that is that rare. Now it’s going to die.”
Alex looked remorseful. “I did it without thinking. I just thought we might need it, and I picked it before I thought anything else.”
“One of your feelings?” asked Dominic.
“I don’t know,” she said. “That or just being stupid. I can’t always tell.”
“Here.” Dom held out his water bottle. “Let’s at least let it have the rest of my water. That will keep it alive for a while.”
“Um, guys, these flowers are awesome and I’m glad we had this happy accident, but my plan worked. She’s moving again.”
Quickly they straightened up. The Medusa was hopping along the road again, exactly as she had been for the last few hours. Alex sighed. They headed back to the bikes they had left by the road.
Half an hour later, Adam knew it was time to admit defeat. The statue was still moving slowly down the same straight road. The horrible thought occurred to Adam that it wasn’t going anywhere at all but just had some internal pull in one direction, like a west-facing compass. He was just about to suggest this possibility when the Medusa abruptly turned and began to hop up a slope toward the trees waiting at the top.
There was a general murmur of excitement as they all hurried to get closer before sh
e was out of sight among the tree trunks. All of Adam’s doubts were forgotten. They had almost reached the end of their trip. He could feel it.
He was wrong.
Fifteen minutes went by. It was harder and harder to follow the Medusa as she wove in and out of the trees. They had decided to keep the bikes with them since they had no idea how far they were going, but that decision was obviously a mistake. Adam’s arms ached from lifting the rusty metal over tree roots and fallen branches. He and Dominic had to work together to lift and maneuver the messenger bike. Another twenty minutes passed. Now they were all panting. Even Eve had given up trying to make conversation.
“Can you still see her?” asked Alex way too loudly.
“Yeah, she’s up there,” said Dominic.
“And now she stopped because she knows we’re talking about her,” grouched Adam.
“Good!” said Eve. “I need a minute to catch my breath. I can’t take much more of this.”
“But we need her moving. We’re running out of time.” Adam looked at his watch and groaned. “Actually we are out of time. You guys, this isn’t working. We have no idea how much farther she’s going. She could be headed for Pike’s Peak for all we know.”
“I’m not turning back now!” Eve protested. “Not after all this.”
“If we don’t start back, it will be ten o’clock before we get home. We’ll probably get back after dark even if we leave right now. If we’re any later, our parents will flip. Everyone getting grounded isn’t going to help us figure anything out.”
“Then we’ll just have to make sure it’s worth it,” said Eve. “We go on no matter how long it takes. All night if we have to. That way if they ground us, at least we finally figured something out.”
“Eve, we can’t just disappear and be gone all night.”
“I’m not saying it’s smart, but actually we CAN. I’m serious, you guys, I’m so sick of almost finding something out but not quite. Don’t you feel like we’ve been in this circle of questions and questions and mysteries and, you know, death threats and stuff and just about anything but actual answers? This is something we can find out. I want to know where this stupid statue is going!”
Adam’s own frustration was so huge that he wanted to agree with her. Screw it all. They could just keep going. His stomach clenched when he thought about his parents, but they had come so far, and the thought of just turning around and heading home empty handed made it hurt worse.
If he and Eve had been alone, Adam probably would have said yes.
“And what will we eat?” asked Dominic. “Did anyone bring more food and water than we used at lunch? Or a warm coat for night time? It gets cold up in the mountains at night, and we’re still climbing. And would we even be able to see her at night?” Eve was starting to look very rebellious. Adam could see her marshalling arguments.
“And what about Logan?” asked Alex.
Eve deflated.
There was a long silence as Adam guiltily realized that he had totally forgotten about Logan. Of course they couldn’t do anything crazy without Logan.
“Okay,” said Eve. “I’m a jerk. Let’s go home.”
“It doesn’t have to be the end of everything,” said Dominic. “There are other days.”
“Yeah, I guess we can bring Medusa back here in the morning and follow her all day tomorrow….” Adam trailed off. The thought of hauling her down and back up every day for who knew how many days was depressing. They would have to mark their trail or they would get lost. It would take longer and longer every day to get back to where they had left off the day before.
Suddenly Eve’s face brightened. “That’s it! We can still do this. We can all-out follow her. We just have to plan it a little. We come back with Logan. With food and coats and lights and all that. We work it out with our parents…a camping trip or a sleepover or something. I mean, I can probably convince my mom that your dad is taking us, Alex. Obviously, I don’t mention the boys… Anyway, we find a way for it to be okay if it takes a few days.”
Alex looked doubtful. “Even if that worked, how would Logan be able to do that?”
“He’s not the only babysitter in the whole world,” said Eve. “We talk to his mom and tell her we want to do this. His birthday is coming up. We can say this is for that. And we tell her we’re going to hire a babysitter for while she’s at work. I have a savings account that my parents were dumb enough to give me a card to. Give me just a minute to think and I can come up with someone who will take the job, I’m sure of it.”
Alex was nodding. Adam felt a bubble of excitement rise up inside of him. This would be awesome. His brain was racing, trying to figure out what the flaw was in the plan, the thing that would make it all impossible. He couldn’t think of anything. Dominic’s face was impassive. Adam was sure he was about to drop the bomb on the whole idea.
“Let’s do it,” Dom said, and it was on.
• • • • •
It was a lot of hot and sweaty work to gather up the Medusa and carry her down through the trees to the road, but once they were there, the ride was all downhill. Eve talked them into bypassing Maddie’s house and heading straight to Logan’s. Adam knew they were going to have to make this a quick stop and then get home before dark or they would be jeopardizing the whole plan. They peddled faster than ever.
Completely exhausted, they skidded to halt at the end of Logan’s gravel driveway. Eve vaulted off her bike and ran up to the door. With only the slightest of knocks, she walked right in. The others crowded in behind her. A strange girl of about 19 was sitting at the table, reading a magazine.
“Where’s Logan?” demanded a breathless Eve.
The stranger shrugged. “Logan left.”
11
The Snoop
The silence stretched out.
The girl at the table didn’t seem at all put out by four sweaty teenagers crowded into the same room with her. She didn’t seem interested in volunteering any information, either. She still held the magazine open as if to indicate that she had already said everything that was necessary.
“Who are you?” asked Eve.
“Jo.” After a minute, she finally realized that Eve was expecting more. “I live down the street. I used to babysit for Logan and Darcy.”
“Where did Logan go?”
“Dunno. Came to my house earlier, said he had some kind of emergency. Asked if I’d babysit until his mom came home. He had a whole wad of cash, and I didn’t have anything else to do, so…” She shrugged.
“He didn’t say what the emergency was?”
“Nope.”
“And he didn’t say where he was going.”
“Nope.”
Eve wanted to strangle this Jo person until her short little unhelpful answers popped out of her ears. “Did he give you a way to get a hold of him?”
“Um…” Jo was actually forced to put the magazine down while she looked around. She didn’t bother getting up from the chair, though. Finally her eyes landed on the fridge. “His mom’s number’s on that paper there. He said to call her if there was a problem.”
That didn’t sound like Logan at all. He would normally do anything to keep from bothering his mom at work. Something must be seriously wrong. Suddenly Eve couldn’t think about anything but how they had been warned that someone would try to get one of them alone. She cursed herself for going today without him. It didn’t matter that it was his idea. He had been acting weird for a while. Something might have already been wrong.
“You have to know something, Jo. It’s really important that we find him.”
“Sorry.” Jo didn’t seem sorry at all.
“I think I know where he went.”
Eve spun around. Darcy was standing in the hallway.
“Darcy! Did he tell you where he was going?”
“Of course not. He’s Logan. He doesn’t tell me anything. But there’s something I need to show you.” She turned and headed back to her bedroom. “Back here,” she
called.
They all looked at each other for a moment, and then at Jo. But Jo had already gone back to her magazine, so they trooped down the hall and squeezed into the tiny bedroom Darcy shared with her mom.
Darcy was sitting on her bed with the Book of Sight on her lap.
Eve took a deep breath and tried to be casual. “You found Logan’s book?”
Darcy raised her eyebrows. “I know you think I’ve been snooping, so you don’t need to pretend with me. I was snooping. Logan came home this morning right when Mom was ready to go. He was acting super weird, kind of talking to himself and stuff, like he was arguing or something. Then all of a sudden he just starts throwing stuff in a duffle bag, like, sunglasses and a jacket and I don’t know what all. The last thing I see him put in there are two of these books.”
“Two of them?” Eve asked.
“He still had mine. I left it here last night,” said Adam.
Darcy shrugged. “I guess. I didn’t exactly want to ask. So anyway, then Logan shuts his door and I can hear him moving stuff around. I knew he was getting his money out of his “secret” place. Like I haven’t known where that is for forever. Then he comes out and says he’ll be right back, he’s just going down the street for a minute. Obviously, while he was gone, I opened the bag and took out one of the books. I didn’t really have time to look at it much before he came back with Jo. He says he has to leave, no explanation, no nothing, that Jo will be here until Mom gets home. Sam was really upset. He even started to cry a little, but Logan whispered something in his ear and then he stopped. Next thing I know, Logan’s gone and Sam’s asking to watch TV. So I came in here and started looking.” Darcy looked up at them. “The book makes no sense at all, but I’m guessing you guys already know that. Then I found this.”
She flipped to the back page.
There was a map.
Slowly, Eve leaned over and took the book from Darcy’s lap. She could feel the others crowding close behind, looking over her shoulder as they all studied the map.
“Have you ever seen this before?” asked Alex.
“No,” Eve breathed. She traced her fingers over the gridded lines of a town and the roughly drawn peaks that marched along next to it. Was it Dunmore?
The Broken Circle (The Book of Sight 2) Page 14
