Persephone pulled the coin-sized disk from under her shirt and held it in the palm of her hand. Its bright golden glow was still there, but it was no longer pulsing and twitching.
“At least you aren’t sneezing pow—” Chase began, and then stopped when he realized he was giving away something he hadn’t intended.
Grandfather cleared his throat. “I see those extra powers have been quite busy showing themselves to you.”
“You mean you knew? But didn’t say anything?” said Chase. “And here I was trying not to worry you with even more stuff.” He really needed to stop keeping secrets from Grandfather.
“Extra powers?” said Benjamin, looking from Grandfather to Chase.
Chase shrugged. “I guess when you didn’t want them that night at Doctor Dan’s, some of them came to me. And they keep popping up almost every time I sneeze.”
“At least those darn things have stopped for the moment,” said Persephone.
“Yeah, but they sure saved our butts back there,” said Chase. “I think—”
“Come on, you guys!” cut in Andy. “Why are you talking about all that right now? We need to figure out about Janie. Do you think they stole her free will?”
“I see you children discovered that as well,” said Grandfather, shaking his head. “It appears we are all guilty of hiding certain information.”
Grandfather had told the kids about the lost Shard and how the Marlowes had gained all their evil magic from it, but he’d neglected to share that they were also stealing people’s free will with it. The kids had found out this on their own the night they snuck into the attic to get more information on their Dark Enemy.
“We need to save her from those creeps,” said Andy, looking around at everyone. “Aren’t we going after her?”
“Andy’s right,” said Chase. “We have to go get her back.”
Andy propped his hands on his hips. “And Aunt Clair told you to keep her kids safe, Dad! Remember?”
“I know. I know,” said Ben, rubbing his forehead. “We’ll figure something out, but there’s nothing we can do at the moment. We don’t even know where they’re headed.”
“But something bad might be happening to her right this very minute!” cried Andy. “I’m really worried about her.”
“At least James is with her,” said Ben. “That should help.”
“Ha! That’s a laugh and a half,” said Chase. “That useless jerk is as bad as the Marlowes.”
Grandfather put his hand on Andy’s shoulder. “I promise she won’t be forgotten, Andy. We will do what we can to help her, but we can’t go running off willy-nilly without some sort of plan.”
“My mom! I totally forgot about her,” said Persephone, looking thunderstruck. “We need to find her. Oh, I hope she’s okay.”
“We all do, my dear,” said Grandfather, frowning. “We’ll first try the kitchen to see if she’s there.”
“Speaking of moms. Where’s ours?” Chase asked Benjamin as they gathered around Grandfather so he could teleport them.
“When you didn’t come back, we had to have the service without you,” said Ben. “She stayed behind to thank the guests for coming. Needless to say, your mother was boiling mad, and then scared out of her wits when Andy showed up without you and told us what was happening here. She wanted to come with us, but I convinced her that without magic, she wouldn’t be any help.”
“Oh, yeah, the funeral,” said Chase, his shoulders drooping. “With everything else going on, I totally forgot about it.”
Benjamin patted his shoulder. “I’m sure your Aunt Clair would have understood that saving the house was your first priority.”
“Hang on!” said Grandfather. They all grabbed onto each other and swirled away into blackness.
“Don’t forget we need to get the enchanted shield going again, Grandfather,” said Chase as soon as they popped into the kitchen.
Everyone jumped when Persephone’s scream filled the air.
“Mom!”
Sitting on the floor in a corner next to the stove, doing absolutely nothing, was Miranda Periwinkle. Chase thought this was an odd sight, since Mrs. Periwinkle was never seen doing absolutely nothing.
Persephone ran across the room and dropped to her knees next to her mother. “Mom?” she said softly. “Is there something wrong?”
Mrs. Periwinkle gave her a blank look.
“Mom! Answer me! What’s wrong?”
“I’m afraid she can’t answer you,” said Grandfather gravely. “If I’m not mistaken, she no longer has her free will.”
“Her—her free will was taken?” said Persephone, clasping her mom’s limp hand tightly between her own. “Are you sure, Mr. Hiram?”
“Quite sure,” he said. “She’s showing the exact symptoms.”
“How do we get it back?”
“We need the Shard of Magic it’s trapped in.”
“What do we do in the meantime?” asked Chase. Anger welled up inside him. Besides Janie, they had to find a way to get the broken piece of Relic back from the Marlowes before even more people were harmed.
“We’ll need to give her a task to do,” said Grandfather solemnly, “or she will spend her life exactly as we see her now. Ben, please assist the dear lady from the floor.”
With a flick of his hand, Grandfather conjured a cushioned rocking chair and a set of knitting needles and yarn. Helping her to her feet, Ben sat Mrs. Periwinkle into the rocker and put her to work knitting a green scarf.
“Why would they do this to her?” asked Persephone. “She wasn’t any threat to them.”
“They probably did it just because they can,” Chase answered, his voice filled with bitterness.
“And what about Janie?” said Andy. “They could’ve taken her free will, too, you know.”
Benjamin clasped Andy’s shoulder. “Or she might’ve gone with them voluntarily. We won’t know anything for sure until we see her again.”
Grandfather heaved a deep sigh as he conjured his own rocking chair and sank wearily into it. “Janie’s having an extremely hard time right now.”
“The shock of James working with the Marlowes probably didn’t help,” said Chase angrily. James had done some despicable things, but it never entered Chase’s mind that it had anything to do with the Marlowes.
“James is working with them?” said Ben, his eyebrows shooting up. “When did this start?”
Chase shrugged. “Beats me, but he’s the one who let them in. At least that’s what he told us.”
“I think they stole her free will,” said Andy as he pulled a can of root beer from the refrigerator and popped it open. “I bet she doesn’t even know she was kidnapped. They’ll probably send us some kind of ransom note or message or something. Though, they didn’t send one for Dad.”
“That was different,” said Chase. “They thought they had the next Keeper of the House. I bet they were hoping Grandfather would die and pass all his powers off to Dad so they could steal all that fantastic magic to use against us. Janie’s still important, but she’s a lot lower on the magical ladder.”
“So it looks as though we’ll have to wait until we hear from them to decide how to handle things,” said Ben.
Chase plopped onto a bar stool and propped his chin on his hand. Was it possible the Marlowes had stolen Janie’s free will? It hadn’t seemed so in the library, but it sure would explain the blank expression on her face later.
And a ransom note. He hadn’t thought of that, either. Maybe Roland would want to trade Janie for the Relic. He sighed. Losing the Relic for any reason was not something he wanted to think about, now or ever. They had to get a rescue mission going as soon as possible; not only for Janie, but for the Shard, too. It had been in the Marlowe’s possession for way too long. It was definitely time for that to change.
He glanced across the room at Mrs. Periwinkle. She was rocking with the rhythm of her clicking needles. Holding the enormous ball of yarn, Persephone had curled up on the floor ne
xt to her.
“We’ll try to find the Shard and fix my mom, won’t we, Mr. Hiram?” Persephone asked as she slowly unwound the yarn.
“Of course we will, and we’ll try to find Janie as well, but these things are probably much easier said than done,” he said sadly.
After these words, the room was so quiet, Chase heard the ticking of the second hand on the kitchen clock. Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Everybody jumped when the silence was broken by the back kitchen door slamming open with a loud bang. Chilly wind and rain swirled into the room.
The noise frightened Andy so badly, he toppled off his stool, knocked over his soda, and sent it crashing to the floor. “It’s the Marlowes again!”
It was immediate chaos as they all scrambled to do whatever they thought would help to defend themselves.
His heart pounding a hundred miles a minute, Chase jerked up his hands and squinted his eyes in concentration. Even though battling it out again was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment, he was ready to fight back with every ounce of magic he possessed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Persephone swinging a rolling pin like it was a baseball bat. Yep, that’s gonna help, he thought.
To their immense relief, the only person to stomp through the doorway was a bedraggled Anne. She was drenched. Her coat dangled off her shoulders and her hair hung in limp strands around her face. Her hazel eyes swept the room.
Chase slapped his hand to his chest and sagged against the counter. He sure hoped he was far too young for heart failure, because any more scares like that one would be the death of him.
“You’re all okay!” cried Anne, tears rolling down her face. “I was so worried.”
She ran across the floor and grabbed Chase and Andy in a bone-crunching hug.
“Owowow! Mom!” yelled Andy, his head caught between her and Chase. “You’re dripping on me.”
Embarrassed by her display, Chase patted her on the back and mumbled, “No need to get all sappy, Mom. We’re fine. Honest. Just ask Dad.”
She released the boys and hugged Ben.
Chase shook his head at Andy, who was frowning and rubbing his squashed ears. “It’s the Marlowes again,” Chase muttered. “Sheesh!”
Meanwhile, Anne was waving her finger in Benjamin’s face. “And don’t any of you ever worry me like that again! I’ve never been so frightened. After all the guests left, I couldn’t get here quick enough. Now tell me what happened.”
Everyone began talking at once. It was kind of jumbled at first, and several times she had to hold up her hands to stop the flow of words, because she had to ask them to repeat some of the details, but the story finally came out, and after a while, it actually made sense to her.
“You’re saying they took Janie with them?” She shook her head. “Oh, that poor girl. And poor Miranda. Will she ever be herself again?”
“If we can get back the Shard of Magic,” said Chase, looking gloomy, “and release all the magic and free will they’ve stolen.”
“Your lives have become so dangerous!” said Anne. “I don’t know if I want to let any of you out of my sight. You might end up like Janie.”
Chase’s and Andy’s eyes met.
“Everything’s under control, Mom,” said Chase in a calming voice. “No need to get all stressed.” They didn’t need their mom freaking out. They had enough to worry about right now. He pulled out a stool for her while Andy brought her a towel so she could dry off.
“Yeah, honey,” added Ben. “Why don’t you relax and take it easy for the rest of the afternoon? You’ve had a busy day.”
“I’ll get a mop to clean up the spilled root beer,” said Persephone. “My heart needs some time to settle down after that scare.” She pulled open the door to the Tidy Room, but stumbled back right away. “Oh my goodness!”
“What’s wrong, Persephone?” asked Chase. “Something scary in the closet?”
She shook her head and pointed. They all turned to watch as a mountainous birthday cake floated from the magical room. It had fourteen tall layers with dozens of white, flashing candles circling each layer, and if this wasn’t eye-popping enough, every layer kept changing from blue, to green, to yellow.
Seconds later, fireworks blasted from the top of the cake. When the air cleared, they saw that high above it, in orange lettering, it now said:
HAPPY 14th BIRTHDAY, PERSEPHONE!
“Holy Frankenstein!” exclaimed Andy, as a bunch of colorful packages tied to multi-colored balloons popped from the cake and drifted around the room.
Just when Chase thought the spectacle was finished, Mrs. Periwinkle’s voice boomed from the cake, “I HOPE ALL YOUR BIRTHDAY WISHES COME TRUE, SEPHIE! I LOVE YOU!”
They all stared from Persephone to the cake and back to Persephone. Tears were rolling down her cheeks. “It’s my birthday,” she whispered unnecessarily.
She turned and ran from the room.
CHAPTER NINE
Booby Trap
Chase dashed through the house. He had to find Persephone and give her the birthday gift he’d purchased for her. He was sure it would help her feel at least a little better. He didn’t even want to think about how rotten it would be if it was his mom sitting downstairs in that rocking chair.
After Persephone had rushed from the kitchen, he’d volunteered to go talk to her. He wasn’t exactly sure what he planned to say, but to be honest, he was thankful for the out. He knew his mom wasn’t finished lecturing them on how all the crazy magic and dangerous situations were scaring her half to death.
He was just thinking that he hoped Persephone was in her room, because it would take forever to search the entire house for her, when he rounded the last corner and spotted Andy. He was leaning against the wall next to Persephone’s bedroom door.
Chase scowled at his brother. “Don’t you have something else to do?”
“Nope,” said Andy, smirking when he caught a glimpse of the package under Chase’s arm. “What’s that, huh? Something for Persephone to make her birthday wishes come true?” He sidled over and tried to peek at it. “What’d you get? A fancy ‘gagement ring?”
“Of course not!” said Chase, his face turning red. “It’s none of your business. And anyway, it’s pronounced engagement. Now go away!”
Andy didn’t budge an inch while he watched Chase wipe his sweaty palms on his pants and take a long, deep breath before knocking loudly on the door. Persephone answered a few seconds later.
“Hey, you guys.” she croaked out. Her eyes were puffy and her face was splotchy from crying, but she’d cleaned the dust and wall chips from her hair, and had exchanged her torn and bloody shirt for a warm sweater.
Chase casually brushed his hand through his own hair, hoping he didn’t have any stray splinters sticking out of it still. Luckily, on the way to his room to get Persephone’s present, he’d run into one of the Tidy Tornados. It had cleaned and spiffed him up in only five seconds.
“What’s up?” continued Persephone.
Chase gritted his teeth and smiled as he worked to stifle the urge to strangle his irritating brother. “So, uh, how’s your shoulder?”
“Much better, thanks,” said Persephone. “I went by the Healing Room so now it’s good as new.”
“Oh, yeah, great idea. Um...” He glanced at Andy out of the corner of his eye before thrusting her gift at her. “Here you go. Happy birthday,” he said quickly. “It’s, uh, a bunch of raspberry-flavored lip balms I thought you’d like, so you, uh, don’t get, you know, chapped lips.”
She grabbed the carefully wrapped package. “Oh…thank you, Chase. Thanks for thinking of me.”
“Here, I brought you something, too,” said Andy, digging around in his pockets.
“You brought something?” asked Chase with raised eyebrows.
“ ‘Course I did. It’s her birthday, ain’t it?” Andy pulled out a large, plastic dragonfly.
“Why, Andy,” said Persephone as he placed the shimmering blue bug in the palm of h
er hand, “this is exactly what I wanted.” She bent forward and kissed him on the cheek.
Andy blushed and shrugged. “Aw, it was nothin’.”
Chase’s eyes bugged out as he watched this exchange. “Ah—err—buh,” he sputtered. This wasn’t turning out at all the way he’d planned, and now here he was, stumbling over his words like his tongue was as big as a baseball mitt.
“I’m sorry I ran off,” she said quietly. “I—I had no idea my mom went to so much trouble for me.” As she turned to set the gifts on her dresser, sadness flickered across her face, but when she swung back around, it had already been replaced by determination. “We have to get that Shard back and Janie along with it! You know, I think we should search her room. Maybe we’ll get lucky and discover something that will tell us what’s going on with James and the Marlowes.”
Chase nodded vigorously, happy to see her acting more like her old self, even though, if Janie knew anything important, it hadn’t appeared so when she was talking with James in the library. He decided to keep that thought to himself, seeing no need to upset Persephone again. He definitely preferred this livelier version. “I know she wrote stuff down in a diary, or some kind of book. Might be some clues in it.”
Persephone stepped out into the hall and closed her door. “Okay. Let’s see what we can find out.”
The three kids hurried through the house, anxious to find a lead, anything that might be useful in helping them solve the mystery. They were halfway there when Chase lurched to a stop. “Wait just a second!”
Persephone and Andy turned to stare at him.
“What’s wrong?” said Persephone, frowning.
“You look weirder than usual,” added Andy.
Chase shot his brother his best don’t-be-a-loser look before exclaiming, “I just thought of something! I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. I’m such an idiot!” He smacked himself on the side of the head. “Is it possible they stole James’s free will, too? I’ve been so mad at him I wanted to blame him for everything, but maybe it’s not his fault.”
Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets Page 7
