Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets

by Haberman, Malia Ann

  Her hands were busily working on the green scarf they’d set her to knitting on the day Janie had been kidnapped. It was now at least twelve feet long. His eyes scanned her face, hoping to see any sign of her usually cheerful personality. He saw nothing except the same blank expression she’d been wearing since the day they had found her sitting on the kitchen floor. Chase knew it was possible to make her do other things and to act at least a little like herself, or even someone else, but no one wanted to force her to do anything besides what she was already doing.

  The back door burst open and Andy and Persephone stomped into the kitchen. Andy headed straight for the refrigerator while Persephone hurried to her mom’s side to say hello.

  “Mom! I’m so happy to see you,” she said, kissing her on the cheek and dropping to the floor next to her. “What a day!”

  Feeling as though he was eavesdropping on a private moment, Chase slipped from the room as Persephone began telling Miranda Periwinkle everything that had happened at school that day.

  He trudged down the hall. Enough was enough. It was time to quit messing around and get down to business. “Ransom note or not,” he muttered to himself, “it’s time to take some action.”

  He thought for sure he’d have to talk until he was blue in the face in order to convince Grandfather it was time to put together some sort of rescue plan. But to his complete astonishment, his grandparent agreed.

  “Yes, yes, Chase,” he said, nodding as he picked up the remote and shut off the TV. “You are correct. I’ve been thinking along those same lines myself. We’ve lost one of our beloved family members and it’s time we regained her.”

  “You—you agree with me?” Chase said, his eyebrows shooting up.

  “Of course. You didn’t think I’d planned on leaving Janie in their despicable hands, did you?”

  Chase shrugged. “Well…I—I wasn’t sure. I hoped not. But we haven’t heard anything. How do we know if she’s okay or where she is, even?”

  “As to how she’s doing, we can only hope and pray they haven’t treated her too harshly. We’ll also have to go on the assumption they took her to Blackshire, since this seems to be their home base, and make our plans accordingly.”

  Chase nodded as his heart began to pound with excitement. “Yeah! We’ll sneak in there and grab her right out from under their creepy noses. They’ll never know what hit ‘em! When do we leave?”

  “I applaud your enthusiasm, Chase,” said Grandfather, “but we’re going to need hours of preparation before embarking on such a dangerous mission. We can’t just rush off and hope for the best.” He stared into Chase’s eyes. “We need a plan.”

  “What kind of plan?” asked Chase, his shoulders drooping. He wanted to storm the town that very minute, and make those Marlowes sorry they’d ever messed with the Tinkers.

  “First, and most important,” said Grandfather gravely, “will be to work on strengthening your magic. This is going to be our key to success. You and Andy must work hard to become more powerful and proficient. And Persephone. She will be a wonderful asset to you. Remember, we’re dealing with some terrible, evil beings who are quite powerful in their own way.”

  Chase frowned. He knew Grandfather was right. They had to have a good—no—a brilliant plan if they wanted to win. Besides, he needed to stop flying off and doing things without thinking about the consequences of his actions.

  “Okay. Practice it is. But I wish we had more people with powers to help,” he said. He sighed and then sat up straighter. “Well we’ll just have to be smarter than them.”

  Grandfather nodded. “And so we shall.”

  “So what do we do first?” Chase asked, eagerness filling his voice again.

  “First off, I want Benjamin to join us.”

  “What?” yelped Chase. He shook his head. “No! No way! We are not including him. He doesn’t even want to go look for Janie. I heard him tell my mom that a couple weeks ago.”

  “Since I won’t be able to accompany you because of my health, you need someone older and more experienced to assist in coordinating your mission.”

  “But I can do all that, Grandfather.” Chase knew his voice sounded whiny and childish, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to involve his dad. He jumped up and began pacing the floor. He ran his hand through his hair, causing it to stick out even more than it already did.

  “I won’t do this without him,” said Grandfather with a stubborn tilt to his chin. “Besides, I’m hoping that working toward the same goal will help you two get over your differences and heal your relationship.”

  “Our differences,” muttered Chase, as he continued to stomp back and forth. “I think it’s a little more complicated than that.” He stopped and stared at Grandfather. “He wants us to leave! To go somewhere and hide out like criminals.”

  Grandfather heaved a deep sigh. “I don’t know if Benjamin will ever change his mind about magic.”

  “He’s being so unreasonable! I’d like to kick him for everything he’s done. Or didn’t do when he had the chance.”

  “You promised me you would try to forgive and move on,” Grandfather reminded him softly.

  “I know, I know.” Chase didn’t want to tell him it was much easier saying it than actually doing it. He stopped and threw up his hands. “Okay! I’ll go get him.”

  Ten minutes later, it was Benjamin instead of Chase pacing the room while raking his hands through his rumpled hair. “No! I won’t do it. This is completely crazy! It would be like marching into a den filled with man-eating lions and hoping to make it out alive.”

  “Told you, Grandfather,” said Chase. “He’s not interested in helping.”

  “And I told you, Chase, I don’t want to be sucked back into all the magic!” Benjamin shot back. “This isn’t some game we’re playing!”

  “So it was a lie when you told Andy we would go after Janie?” said Chase.

  “I wasn’t thinking straight at the time,” said Benjamin, shaking his head. “I only wanted to bolster him after everything that had happened that afternoon.”

  “More lies,” muttered Chase as he slouched on the sofa. “Why am I not surprised?”

  Ben ignored Chase’s comments as he continued, “A lot of magic will be needed to save your cousins. I can’t be involved.”

  “Cousins?”

  “You are thinking of saving James, too, aren’t you?”

  Actually, Chase hadn’t given any thought to it. In fact, he didn’t care if he ever saw James’s sneering face again. “James is on his own! This is for Janie.”

  “We can’t forget that James is also a member of the family,” said Grandfather. “I agree with Benjamin. You should try to bring him home as well.”

  The scowl on Chase’s face deepened until his eyebrows were practically joined together, like one long, furry caterpillar. “Whatever you say, Grandfather, but I think it’ll be a huge waste of time and effort. He’s nothing but a stinking jerk.”

  Ben shoved his hands into his pockets as he gave them another reason for not wanting to be a part of the rescue party. “And your mother. She’s never going to go for this. She’s already worried sick about all of us. She’ll kill me if she finds out we’ve even been discussing this.”

  “We won’t tell her,” said Chase, shrugging one shoulder. “It’s not as if you haven’t done that before.”

  Benjamin opened his mouth to retort, but seemed to have trouble finding any words to defend himself.

  Looking smug, Chase stared into his dad’s eyes. In Chase’s mind, too many years of deceiving his family had made Benjamin Tinker one of the biggest liars around.

  Grandfather nodded. “It would seem prudent to keep her in the dark for the time being.”

  “And what do we do when she wants to know what we’re up to, Dad?” Ben asked. “Tell her we’re planning a nice family picnic?”

  Chase narrowed his eyes at Ben. “Oh, forget it! I’ve heard enough crap. We have to do this. They’re probably torturin
g Janie while we’re standing around here arguing about it. And guess what?” He pointed his finger at Benjamin. “We don’t need you! Andy, Persephone and I can do it on our own. I’m perfectly capable of—”

  Grandfather held up his hand to halt his grandson’s rant. Wishing that Grandfather hadn’t stopped him, Chase grabbed a pillow off the couch and scrunched it in his fists.

  “If Anne realizes what’s happening, Ben,” said Grandfather, “then, well, we’ll need to explain everything at that point. But in the meantime, are you in or out?”

  Benjamin looked from Grandfather to Chase, then back to Grandfather before plopping down into an armchair. He rested his head on the chair back and rubbed his eyes. “Okay, okay. Since I know Chase will probably make plans to do it anyway, with or without my help, you can count me in. I’ll help as much as I can, but we have to leave Andy out of it. He’s too young for this.”

  “Try telling that to Andy,” said Chase with a loud snort.

  “Try telling me what?” asked Andy as he and Persephone strolled through the doorway. “What’re you guys doing?”

  Chase hopped up and hustled Andy and Persephone farther into the room. He stuck his head out into the hallway and checked up and down it before quickly closing the door. Leaning against it, he crossed his arms. “We’re going to rescue Janie.”

  “We are?” exclaimed Andy. “It’s about time!”

  “No we aren’t,” said Benjamin. “When it’s time to go, you are staying here. It’s too dangerous and it’s bad enough Chase has to go. I don’t want to get into more trouble with your mother than I have to.”

  “But—”

  “No buts.”

  “We do kind of need him, Dad,” said Chase, trying his best to be reasonable when what he wanted most was to tell Benjamin to go jump in a lake, or Puget Sound, since it was closest. “He’s got one of the best powers to help fight.”

  Andy nodded his head vigorously. “I can stop them while Chase zaps them. Wham! Wham! Pow! Pow! Pow!”

  “And we’re going to need as many of us as possible since we’re already outnumbered,” Chase added over Andy’s sound effects. “I say he goes.”

  “Aren’t you a little young to be in charge, Chase?” asked Ben, amusement creeping into his voice. “That is why I’m here, isn’t it? To lead? And to have you follow?”

  If it were possible, the whole room would have gone up in flames from the blazing anger that instantly filled Chase. He was so furious, he had to stop himself from running across the room and pounding Benjamin to a pulp. Or worse, Chase thought as a weird buzzing rushed through him like a furious wind—a buzzing he’d felt once before on the night he’d sent Roland Marlowe shooting across the sky like a blazing meteor. He clenched his fists and fought to keep the magic inside, but he was unable to stop the words from pouring out.

  “I think I stopped being ‘a little young’ the day you vanished without a word!” he snarled. “For almost a year I helped take care of Andy while I watched Mom barely keep herself together because she was worried sick over you.” His voice was filled with scorn. “And for months now I’ve done all I can to help keep us and this house safe from the creeps who want to take it away from us. I don’t need you treating me as if I’m nothing but some stupid kid! I’m here to help plan this rescue mission, too, and not to take orders from a magic-hater like you!”

  He stopped and looked around at everyone as they goggled at him. Panting from barely taking a breath during the whole tirade, he felt droplets of sweat dribble down the sides of his face. Ignoring the sadness that flashed in his dad’s eyes, Chase swiped the drops away with the back of his hand and gulped. He wanted to open the door and run and run and not stop until somehow all this craziness was over. Had he really said all that? He hadn’t meant for things to get so far off-kilter. Why did his dad have to go and make things so much more difficult than they already were? Should he take everything back? No. In his heart, he knew it had needed to be said.

  Grandfather cleared his throat. “Now that Chase has set a few things straight,” he said, while giving Chase a quick nod of understanding, “let’s start making some plans.”

  Chase took a deep breath as he worked to pull himself together. He didn’t protest when Persephone grasped his arm and tugged him over to the sofa. He slumped back and stared at the television. Its dark screen showed a distorted reflection of the room and its occupants. He stared at the reflection of his dad: bent forward, hands dangling between his knees, tense, frowning—an older image of both his sons.

  All Chase could think was, It’s ruined. My relationship with my dad is totally ruined. Tears stung his eyes. He blinked rapidly to stop them from pouring out. Yep. That’s all he needed to do to show he wasn’t a kid anymore: break down and blubber like a big baby.

  “—practice your magic until there are no errors,” said Grandfather.

  Chase jerked up. Had he missed something important while he wallowed in his own misery?

  “I wish the rest of us had as much magic as you and Chase,” grumbled Andy.

  “An extra power or two sure would help,” said Persephone, looking glum.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” said Chase. “If it’s okay with you, Grandfather, I can go to the Enchantment Room and enchant some things for them.”

  The Enchantment Room was where they had the ability to add any of the magic living in the house to any object. Chase and the other kids had found it hidden in the secret basement, along with the other dangerous powers rooms, and the only way to get to any of those rooms was through the charmed golden chest.

  “Excellent idea, Chase,” said Grandfather. “It will certainly give our side a stronger advantage.”

  Andy’s and Persephone’s faces lit up. “Cool!” exclaimed Andy.

  “Now,” continued Grandfather, “why don’t the rest of you go on to dinner while Chase escorts his slow-moving grandparent?”

  Chase watched the other three file from the room. Persephone gave him one last look before disappearing around the corner. He had the urge to jump up and run after her. He had a feeling Grandfather was about to reprimand him for yelling at his dad, and he didn’t want to apologize for it.

  Okay, fine, he thought. I’ll let Grandfather say whatever he wants to say, but first, I’ll squeeze in my own two cents worth. “Look, Grandfather, I know—”

  “Chase, before we go, I have to tell you some new information about the golden chest that leads to the Enchantment Room and the other dangerous powers.”

  “What?” Chase shook his head in confusion. “The chest? I thought—”

  Grandfather held up his hand. “Because of certain…circumstances, I had to move it from my room to a new and more secure location.”

  Shame rushed through Chase when he thought of the circumstances Grandfather was referring to—things that included the kids going to his bedroom and breaking into the magical chest without Grandfather’s permission.

  “You need to know the secrets to finding it again. You may take Andy and Persephone, as well, but remember, you are the only one who can perform the magic and spells required to get there.” Grandfather paused for a moment then continued, “And I have something extremely crucial that I must share with you about those rooms.

  “It’s a matter of life…and death.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The Trouble with Sneezing

  Chase ripped several paper towels from the restroom’s dispenser and briskly rubbed his hands dry. Detention! This was the last thing he wanted, and he sure didn’t want to hear “I told you so” from Persephone. After all, it wasn’t his fault he’d forgotten to do his homework last night. Well—maybe it was, but it was only because he had so many other things on his mind. Issues much more important than science reports and math. Maybe he’d get lucky for once and the teacher would understand that sometimes a guy had other priorities, too. Then again, the way his luck usually went, probably not.

  “Might as well get going so I can get it
over with,” Chase muttered to himself. He wadded the towels and slam-dunked them into the trash bin just as a huge sneeze exploded from him. “AAACHOOOOOOO!”

  He staggered backward, slipped in a puddle of water and tumbled to the floor. “Whoa! Ooph! Ow!” He barely had time to catch his breath and check that he hadn’t broken any bones when he heard loud clanging. His eyes bugged out of their sockets when he saw the trash bin stomping toward him, its lid opening and closing like a huge mouth.

  “Yikes! You’re alive!” Chase scrambled back and bashed his head on the sink. Reaching up, he grabbed onto the side of the slippery porcelain and managed to drag himself to his feet. The trash bin scurried closer. Old, rumpled paper towels flew from its mouth and scattered across the room. Chase dodged to the side as it chomped down exactly where his hand had clung to the sink. CLANG! The resounding ring made his eardrums ache. A chunk of porcelain from the sink fell to the floor and shattered.

  The trash bin jumped back, blocking Chase’s escape route to the exit door. Its lid was now so wrinkled and curled up, the bin looked more like a huge, leering monster than a container for trash. Chase ducked as an apple core and part of a stinky tuna fish sandwich sailed from its innards and splatted against the wall.

  Not sure what else to do, Chase dashed into the closest stall and leaped onto the toilet seat. He swung around to face the door and lost his balance. Waving his arms in the air, he tottered for a moment on one foot before his other splashed into the toilet bowl. He slipped to the floor and rammed into the wall, nearly biting his tongue in the jarring fall.

  “Oh, man!”

  Grabbing the silver plumbing pipe on the back of the toilet, he yanked his soggy foot from the bowl and shook a bunch of water off it. Meanwhile, the bin had joined him in the narrow compartment. It skittered back and forth, snapping at the air as it tried to bite Chase’s flailing limb.