Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets

by Haberman, Malia Ann

  Looking as though he was about to enjoy a great show, Roland stepped aside as Janie sashayed forward, hands on her hips and her lip curled up in a perfect James-like sneer. “Here at last, huh? Come to rescue poor-little-lost-Janie?” she said, staring down her nose at them. “Decided you just didn’t want to live without me one moment longer? Hey, it’s time to celebrate. My rescuers have arrived!” Then her gaze landed on Nori. “And who’s this?” Janie frowned as if a thought had suddenly occurred to her. “My—replacement?”

  Before anyone had a chance to stop him, Andy stepped forward and said, “Please come home, Janie. We miss you. And so does Maxwell.”

  For a second, Chase thought he saw a look of sadness flash across Janie’s face. But then again, it might’ve been only his eyes playing tricks on him, because the next second she was snarling like a feral animal. “Yeah, right! Tell me another good one! You missed me so much you couldn’t wait to find someone to take my place, could you?”

  “It’s not like that,” answered Chase as he pulled Andy back, worried one of the Marlowes might leap off the platform and attack him. At the same time, Nori’s hand grasped Andy’s shoulder. Chase sent her a quick glance. She’d been shadowing Andy all night, as if she was afraid something bad was going to happen to him.

  “What? You brought her along just to meet me? How very sweet of you.” Janie’s voice was filled with sarcasm.

  “Actually, she’s our cousin, Nori,” Chase continued. “She’s Great-Uncle Thomas’s granddaughter no one knew about. She came with us to help find you and bring you home.”

  “Oooh, I get it. You’re exchanging one cousin for another, like I’m an ugly shirt that just never would fit right. I can’t believe this! No wonder it took you so long to get here.” Her voice became louder and shriller as she spat out each word. “Well maybe I don’t want to be rescued. Did you ever think of that?”

  Chase was getting more frustrated by the second. What was wrong with her? “Janie, why are you acting this way?” he yelled. “And why are you treating them like they’re your friends when you know what kind of evil creeps they are?”

  Maven strode forward. She had a black scarf wrapped around her head. Chase figured it was because her melted hair hadn’t grown back in yet. “You dreadful little boy, she’s—”

  Roland pushed her back. “Let Janie handle it,” he growled at her as she clamped her lips shut and scrunched her eyebrows together.

  Chase glared at them and continued. “You know they want to take our home and our magic from us. They’re stealing the magic from every magical creature they can find. They plan on taking everyone’s free will and making everything dark and evil!” He stopped and took a deep breath. “And you’ve always hated anything to do with dark magic. What the heck is wrong with you?”

  “Nothing’s wrong with her, stinker!” said James. He stomped to the edge of the platform and pointed at Chase. “It’s you who’s the problem.”

  Janie grabbed James’s arm. “I don’t think they know.”

  “That’s not our fault!” he said. “It’s the old man’s.”

  “What don’t we know?” said Persephone, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. “What’s going on, Janie?”

  Janie laughed, but to Chase’s ears, it was far from being a happy sound. It was more like she was mocking them, trying to make them feel stupid for some reason. Well if that’s her plan, thought Chase. It’s working.

  The moon had escaped from the clouds, and it now lit up the whole area with a silvery glow. A sliver of it caught in Janie’s eyes, giving them a slightly deranged gleam.

  “So! Another secret our wonderful Grandfather never shared with anyone,” she said. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

  “What are you talking about, Janie?” said Benjamin. “We’re not here to play games.”

  “Oh, this is no game,” said Roland as he crossed his arms and propped his hip against the railing. “At least, not yet.”

  “Janie, why are you still with them?” cried Andy. “Are they making you act this way because they stole your free will? Is that why you’re doing this?”

  “NO!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. The piercing sound echoed across the square. “You’ve got it all wrong, as usual.” She frowned and fiddled with the zipper on her jacket for a moment before blurting, “They’re my family!”

  “Your…what?” Chase barely choked out, knowing he must’ve heard wrong. The others gasped and stiffened beside him.

  Andy shook his head and wrinkled his nose. “That can’t be right. You’re our cousin and we’re sure not related to those icky guys.”

  “They are James’s and my family,” she repeated slowly. “Our father’s family: Uncle Roland, Aunt Maven, and our cousins, Clive and Ethan.”

  “No. No. No!” whispered Chase, a knot the size of a boulder forming in his stomach. “No way!”

  Janie and James, half-Tinker—and half-Marlowe, their Dark Enemy? The wicked family they’d been at war with for centuries? How was it possible for this to have happened? The idea was unthinkable! It was unbelievable! And way too horrifying. Still, even if it was true, how could she even consider joining them? It can’t be true, he thought, his mind whirling. It has to be some kind of sick joke. It just has to be!

  “You’re related to them?” said Persephone. She looked as if she might puke.

  Janie nodded. “There are others, but they didn’t come tonight. They’re busy with other…matters…”

  “Talk about walking into total craziness,” murmured Nori as she pulled her coat more snugly around herself.

  “But I don’t understand. How can that be?” Andy asked. “I remember you said your dad didn’t have any brothers or sisters.”

  “Hiram and Zane lied to us for years,” said Janie flatly. “They’re despicable. I hate them both!”

  Persephone shook her head in confusion. “Why would they lie like that?”

  “Isn’t it obvious?” said Janie, giving Persephone a condescending look. “They didn’t want James and me to meet our awesome family.”

  “Awesome? Yeah, right,” muttered Andy.

  “There has to be some mistake. You can’t be related to these—these…” Persephone’s voice trailed away.

  “Zane Marler is actually Zane Marlowe,” Roland explained. “Our now-famous brother. He changed his name when he scarpered off to America years ago to attend university and paint!” He spit out the last word as if it were a dreadful curse word. “We had no idea he’d married a Tinker and fathered children.” His face reddened as he ground his teeth together and growled. “The bloody fool knew all along, and yet he never said a word! Then six months ago, he invited us to visit him in Chicago. He wanted to brag about his brilliant success. Zane always whined and complained that none of his family believed in him—”

  “He fancied his silly pictures more than the family business,” Maven cut in. “He’s weak!”

  Roland smiled. “But that’s when we discovered the secret Zane kept from us for years.”

  “And James was quite chuffed to join us when he heard,” said Clive, looking at James with pride. “He’s been a fantastic addition to the family.”

  While the others talked, Chase began remembering a conversation he’d had with Grandfather last summer, before James had attacked him. Grandfather had blamed himself for James’s behavior. He’d told Chase he’d waited too long to tell them, and he didn’t know if he would be able to fix his terrible mistake. His strange words had puzzled Chase at the time, but now they made perfect sense. “Everything she’s saying is true,” he murmured. “Grandfather did know. He knew and didn’t say anything. Why did he keep something this important from us?”

  Janie, who’d been watching Chase and the different emotions flashing across his face, replied, “Because he’s nothing but a liar! Haven’t you figured that out yet?”

  “Don’t listen to her, Chase,” said Persephone, placing her hand on his arm. “Mr. Hiram has always just wanted to prot
ect all of us.”

  “And no matter what goes on, Persephone,” said Janie with a pitying look, “you always think he can do no wrong.”

  Hoping for some sort of explanation, Chase turned to his dad, but Ben’s pale face showed he was as shocked as the kids. Apparently, Grandfather hadn’t shared all of his secrets with Benjamin, either.

  “So…you’re choosing them over us?” asked Andy, sounding lost and confused.

  “Nothing gets past you, does it, four-eyes?” said James, smirking. “Besides, we’ve got these cool powers to go along with our other ones. Wanna see?”

  “Why don’t you go stuff your head in the toilet where it belongs, Jamesy-poo!” Andy hollered.

  James’s howl of rage was followed by silvery-red energy beams blasting out of his fingertips. The sizzling beams exploded into the ground in front of Chase and nearly removed the rubber from the toes of his sneakers. He leaped back, slammed into Nori, and knocked her to the ground.

  “Any suggestions on what we should do now, Chase?” asked Ben as he reached down to help Nori to her feet.

  Chase turned and raked his hand through his hair. Wow! Is Dad actually asking for my opinion? he thought. One thing was for sure, they certainly didn’t want to stand around here arguing with the Marlowes all night, but his mind wouldn’t stop reeling. He had way too many questions that needed answers. Why would Grandfather send them over here to find Janie when he knew the truth about her the whole time? Was Janie lost to dark magic for good? Was this whole rescue mission for nothing? And what about the Shard? Even if they had no way of saving Janie right now, they at least had to get that back. The Marlowes had to be stopped before they became even more powerful.

  But then he saw something that made his heart jump up into his throat: a vast crowd of people lumbering silently toward them. Their eyes were as dark and blank as all the windows in town. It was like something out of a horror movie. Chase gulped. Where had they come from? “Uh…you guys?” he croaked out. “You better check behind you.”

  The others swung around.

  “Holy cow!” exclaimed Andy. “It’s a whole bunch of zombies. They’re gonna eat our brains!”

  “I don’t think so, Andy,” Chase said, suddenly remembering the night the Relic had told him and Janie about the people of Blackshire having their free will taken from them. What an idiot he was for forgetting something so incredibly important! “They may look and act like zombies, except they’re not dead. They’re real live people.”

  “People that look like they want to kill us,” said Nori, her voice shaking. “And then eat our brains.”

  “We need to get outta—AACHOOOOO!” Chase shot into the air. “Hey!”

  “Chase!” shouted Persephone. She jumped to catch his foot, but he was already out of her reach.

  From up on the platform, Roland yelled, “Attack!”

  The townspeople surged forward like a human tidal wave. The place exploded into complete pandemonium.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Lost in Darkness

  “Ropes!” shouted Ben. Golden ropes whipped from his fingertips and wrapped themselves around dozens of zombie-people. They fell to the ground and lay there like thick sausages as others stumbled over them. “No matter what happens,” Benjamin hollered to the kids, “we absolutely cannot hurt any of them. They’re just innocents who are all in the same boat as Miranda.”

  “They’re still scary,” said Andy as he began pelting zombies with water balloons conjured from his hands. “Take that, you zombie dudes!” The watery barrage drove some back, but it wasn’t enough to stop the rest of them. They all had just one thing in mind: destroy the Tinkers.

  Ben was so involved with trying to keep the kids and himself from being overrun, he missed the moment when one of the zombie-people got close enough to grab Andy and drag him into the crowd. Right after that, Nori and Persephone were both wrapped in tight bear hugs and lifted off their feet.

  “Invisible,” said Persephone. She vanished.

  Nori heard humming. Seconds later, the man holding Persephone dropped to the ground, sound asleep. Several more people fell over next to him.

  Meanwhile, Nori’s face had turned reddish-purple. “Let go of me!” she squeaked out. “Oh yeah, I have magic, too. Grow hair!” The man’s thick hair instantly grew down over his face. Dropping Nori, he staggered away.

  “This is insane. We’ll never be able to beat all these people,” Nori muttered as she swung her leg around and tripped two more zombies attempting to latch onto her.

  “Nori! Nori! Here I am!” called Andy. Nori looked down and saw him crawling through the wild jungle of legs and shoes. She pulled him to his feet. “I froze a bunch of them, but there’s too many,” he panted. “Where’d everybody else go?”

  “I don’t know, but we have to find a safer spot to fight.” Kicking and punching anyone who came too close, Nori fought her way through the swarming mass. As they reached the edge of the fighting, a huge, bearded man leaped in front of them. He gave a deep, rumbling growl. The kids lurched to a stop and stared at his tree-trunk-sized arms.

  “Whoa!” exclaimed Andy. “It’s the Incredible Hulk.”

  Nori flicked her hand. “Roof!” she shouted. The man vanished. “Thank goodness that worked.” Frowning, she scanned the rooftops. “But I do hope he’s okay.” She squared her shoulders and grabbed Andy’s arm. “No time to stress on it now. Come on.”

  They ran a few more yards and into the deep shadows of one of the darkened buildings.

  Andy turned and twitched his finger. “Shield!” In a flash, a bluish-white barrier popped in front of him and Nori. They hunkered down behind it and started throwing their magic at every zombie-person in range. Several of them barreled into the shield and bounced off it, like they were made of rubber.

  Nori turned her back to Andy and conjured a killing fireball. It flashed and flared. It was as if she held a baseball-sized hunk of the sun in the palm of her hand. “I wish I could just throw some of these and finish those Marlowes off for good!” she muttered to herself.

  “What?” asked Andy.

  “Nothing important,” she answered quickly, as she magicked away the dangerous weapon before he saw it. Chase would kill her if she told anyone their secret. The fireballs were meant as a last resort, and they weren’t there yet. “Just giving myself a pep talk.” She sent more hair-growing magic out into the throng instead, blinding a few of the townspeople behind curtains of thick bangs.

  Persephone ran by. She was followed by James, and he looked bound and determined to catch her. She was using her extra-arms power to shove townspeople out of her way.

  “Why didn’t she stay invisible?” Nori fretted.

  “Because Chase told us not to,” answered Andy as he flung the dozens of mud-balls he’d conjured.

  Nori heaved out a puff of air. “Since when do you guys do what Chase says?”

  Andy shrugged.

  “Well, I’ll fix James!” She pointed her finger at his back. “Rat!” But the magic whizzed past James and hit a zombie-person. He rippled, transformed into a twitchy, gray rat and scampered off into a drainage hole.

  “Oh no!” cried Nori. “I guess I better not do that again.” By this time, James and Persephone had both disappeared from view.

  “Should we go after her?” asked Andy.

  Nori shook her head. “We need to stay here where it’s safe for you...uh, and me.” She crossed her fingers. “She’ll be okay. I hope.”

  High above, Chase watched helplessly while his family was swarmed. He groaned as he flapped around like a clumsy pterodactyl just learning to fly. He must be at least three hundred and fifty feet in the air, while his family was fighting for their lives. He had to figure out how to undo this spell. They needed his help.

  “Wait a minute,” he said. “Duh!” He reached up and touched his beanie. “Replicate!” Five hundred Chase clones popped into existence all around the town square. Whoa! He hadn’t expected that many, but
Grandfather had said their magic would be stronger on Halloween. And even though those look-a-likes didn’t have any magical abilities, they would still cause plenty of trouble and confusion. “Trick or treat!” said Chase with a jaunty wave.

  Now he had to focus on getting himself out of this crazy floating mess. He closed his eyes. “It must be the ability to defy gravity, or something,” he muttered. “But what are the words for controlling it?” He scrunched his face and concentrated until the answer popped into his mind. “Descend.” He floated toward the ground.

  As he moved closer to the craziness, he almost wished he could just teleport out of there and forget any of this had ever happened. But then Chase saw something that made his eyes bulge. It was Janie, storming through the crowd, blasting sizzling silvery-red energy beams at any of the townspeople unfortunate enough to get in her way. Everyone she hit fell to the ground, their skin red and blistered. From his vantage point, it looked as if she didn’t care or have any remorse about the appalling things she was doing. Whenever she came to a Chase clone, she’d zap him, too, and each one would disappear in a cloud of ash. Every time she realized it wasn’t the real Chase, her anger grew.

  Glancing up, she finally saw him drifting toward the ground. “Chase!” she screamed shrilly. “Just the person I’ve been searching for!”

  Chase landed on a narrow, cracked sidewalk a short distance from her. Their eyes met. He tried not to cringe when the burning hatred in them made him take a quick step back. She looked like she was out for blood, and he had a bad feeling it was his.

  Janie sauntered closer. “Well, well. The inimitable Chase Tinker at last. Hiding out and letting your family fight the battle for you?”

  Chase tried to control his outrage. “You know I’d never do that. I had a magical mishap, that’s all. Now I’m back.”

  “That’s easy to believe,” she said, nodding. “You always do manage to make a mess of things. But through it all, no matter what, you’re still Hiram’s golden child who can do no wrong.”

  Chase ignored her hurtful remarks. He had other things he wanted to get off his chest. “So, you’ve decided to join them and become a Marlowe, huh?”