Chase Tinker and the House of Secrets

by Haberman, Malia Ann

  “Janie Marlowe. It does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”

  Chase shrugged. “I like Janie Marler better.”

  “Janie Marler is dead!” she snapped. “She died the day she learned the truth about herself.”

  “That doesn’t mean you have to turn into an evil jerk!” he snapped back. “Come on, Janie, do you seriously want this?”

  She reached up and rubbed the skull pierced through her eyebrow. She looked as if she still wasn’t used to it. Chase held his breath, hoping she would say no, that what she wanted most was to go home to the Tinker house.

  Instead she said, “James wants to be the next Keeper of the House. And I’m helping him get it.”

  “So you guys plan on killing all of us.” Chase didn’t even attempt to hide his look of disgust. “What do you think your mom would say about you acting this way?”

  “Since she’s no longer here, thanks to dear Uncle Ben,” said Janie bitterly, “it doesn’t matter, now does it? And James is excited about being Keeper.”

  “Over my dead body,” Chase muttered.

  “Remember, that is the plan. We—” Her eyes suddenly bugged out. “What are you doing with him?”

  Maxwell had crawled onto Chase’s shoulder. He’d forgotten the ferret had been napping in his hood.

  “Why do you have Maxwell? You’ve never liked him. Give him to me!” She reached out to grab Maxwell, but he gave her hand a vicious bite. “Ow! Crap!” She jumped back. “What have you done to him?” she cried, staring down at the deep, oozing holes in her thumb.

  “I didn’t do anything,” said Chase. “Remember, animals can sense magic, and they really hate dark magic. It looks like he knows you’re full of the stuff now.”

  Angry beyond reason, Janie jerked up her uninjured hand. Blazing energy shot from her fingertips, heading straight toward Maxwell. Chase dodged out of the way, landing on his hands and knees on the sidewalk. The silvery-red beams crashed into the window behind him. Maxwell leaped into the air, spitting and hissing. Small blue lightning bolts zipped from his eyes. They slammed into Janie’s chest and caught her jacket on fire. Shrieking, she hopped around, beating at the flames. Maxwell landed on the ground and disappeared into the darkness.

  Chase stared at the burning holes in Janie’s jacket. That was one of the coolest things he’d ever seen! Maxwell had somehow learned to use the magical power enchanted into his collar. Andy won the bet, after all. He’d have to remember to tell both him and Persephone about it. If they’re okay, that is, he thought, fear and worry for his family making his heart pound faster.

  Behind Janie, Chase saw the battle was still raging on. Maven, Clive, and Roland soared over the melee, viciously shooting energy beams at the Chase clones that were running amok. And, like Janie, they didn’t care if they hurt any of the townspeople who got in their way. The three of them rolled through the air as thick smoke and then suddenly morphed back into human form, except only their top halves were human. From the waist down, they each continued to be churning purple fog, like terrifying genies set on destroying everything in sight.

  Chase was relieved to see his dad still fighting valiantly. Sparks flared and flew through the air as golden whips of fire flashed from his fingertips and collided with the sizzling energy beams being fired at him. He was surrounded by Chase clones who were flinging rocks and garbage at everyone. Chase almost laughed out loud when another clone scurried by, madly flapping his arms. He was followed by a gang of zombie-people waving sticks.

  “Get up!”

  Chase swiveled his gaze back to Janie. She’d recovered from Maxwell’s fiery attack and now, since Maxwell had escaped, it looked as if she planned on taking her revenge out on Chase.

  “I said, get up!”

  Chase climbed to his feet. “Look, Janie—”

  “You turned my pet against me!”

  “So what do you think I’ve been doing? Sitting around telling him how much you suck?” he asked. “Come on, it’s time to get over yourself.”

  “You think you’re so cool, don’t you?”

  “Janie, I only want you to come home and be you again,” he said, trying his best to reason with her.

  “I am home and I am me, idiot!” she snarled.

  “But I know if you were thinking straight, you wouldn’t be—”

  The silvery-red beams flashed from her fingertips again and smashed into his chest. Five seconds later, the torment stopped. “Please, just listen to me,” he said between gasps.

  “I’d prefer not to,” she answered sharply. “Now come on. I’m waiting to see how much better your good magic is than my dark.” Again, the sizzling energy beams slammed into him.

  After the pain subsided again, he struggled to stand. Clutching his stomach, he leaned against the cracked window of the darkened shop behind him. “Stop it, Janie! I don’t want to fight you, because I care about you and I don’t want to hurt you. You don’t know the whole story about my power. Things have changed in the past couple months.”

  “I don’t care! Fight me! Since I’m going to kill you anyway, you might as well at least put up a bit of a struggle.” She blasted him once again. “I’ll just keep making it worse and worse.”

  “Ahhh!” he yelled as he stumbled to his knees. No doubt about it, his brain was going to explode into a million slimy pieces. Apparently, Janie had spent a lot of her spare time practicing her torturing techniques. Wrapping his arms around his head, Chase curled into a tight ball. How in the world could it get any worse?

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Fight to the Finish

  Benjamin was completely overjoyed when the Chase clones popped into existence all around him.

  “That kid may drive me crazy,” he said to himself, grinning as he watched several Chases leap onto the backs of some of the townspeople. “But sometimes…” And even though the Chase look-a-likes were magically worthless, they still kept the Marlowes and their zombie-cohorts busy enough for Ben to allow himself a quick moment to take a breath.

  “You know, I think you look-a-likes need your own weapons,” he said, as he pointed his fingertips to the ground and conjured enormous piles of rocks and garbage. “That ought to keep you busy for a while. Go for it!” The clones began flinging rocks, rotten tomatoes, chunks of moldy cheese, and tin cans every which way.

  Suddenly, the ground exploded behind Ben. He spun to the side and flung up his hands. “Firewhips!” Long whips shot from his fingertips. Cracking and hissing, they flashed through the air, like golden, writhing snakes.

  “Haven’t you had enough, Benjamin?” hollered Roland as Ben’s whips collided with his energy beams. Thousands of sparks rained down. “And where did you get this power? I know you didn’t have it the last time we met.”

  Sweat poured down Benjamin’s face as he strained to keep any of the silvery-red beams from hitting him. “Oh, I’m full of surprises, Roland!” he shouted back. “I seem to recall these whips are how you got that scar.”

  “It’s one more reason to despise you bloody Tinkers!” Roland snarled. The anger in his voice told Ben he’d hit a sore spot.

  Ben had the childish urge to stick out his tongue at Roland, but instead, he turned his head to swipe his wrist across his stinging eyes. In that moment, he saw James stomping by. Struggling to hold on to Persephone, James weaved in and out of the milling throng.

  “Let me go!” she shrieked, fighting to release her numerous arms.

  Ben watched them disappear behind a building. He had to do something. And quick. First, he needed to distract the three Marlowes. “ATTACK!” he yelled at the top of his lungs. He waved the clones forward. “Attack them!”

  The Chases scrambled to do what they were told. Running at Roland, Maven, and Clive, they leaped into the purple fog, grabbing at whatever they were able to get their hands on.

  “Get away, you disgusting twits!” screamed Maven. She swirled and fought to escape from the exuberant clones. She slammed sideways into Clive, who was
twisting about with his own clone problems.

  “Benjamin Tinker, you will be sorry for this!” yelled Roland as one of the Chases leaped onto his back and bit his ear. “Ahhh!”

  Ben gave the replicas a quick two-finger salute. “Thanks, guys.” He ducked behind a pile of garbage and changed into one of the townspeople. Tugging the old fisherman’s cap lower over his eyes, he slipped into the crowd and headed to the spot where he’d last seen Persephone and James. He slunk along the wall and peeked around the corner.

  “You think becoming invisible is going to help you now?” said James as he wrapped ropes around an old wooden chair. “Ooph! Ow! That hurt!”

  “Then let. Me. Go,” said Persephone’s angry voice. “You sick jerk!”

  “Sorry, can’t hear you very well with these ear plugs in,” James answered in a sing-song voice. “Don’t want you humming me to sleep like I saw you doing to the others out there. And to Ethan.” He finished tying the knots and stepped back to admire his handy work. “That oughta hold you.”

  With one quick thought, Benjamin looked exactly like Roland. He stepped out into the open. James looked up. “Uncle Roland!” He moved away from Persephone and yanked the plugs from his ears. “Look, I caught the hostage you wanted.”

  “Well done, James,” said Ben, in Roland’s deep raspy voice. “Now come along. We need you to help us win the fight. We’ll get her later.”

  Pleased at having done something right, James rushed to Ben’s side. The grin on James’s face instantly slid away when the person he thought was Roland jerked up his hands and began squirting honey all over James.

  “Err—wha’? Guk!” he sputtered as the thick, gummy substance filled his mouth and eyes. “Unca Wowan! Why…?” James tried to wipe it off his face, but his palms stuck to his skin as though they’d been super glued there. Puffs of purple smoke seeped out from the honey as he slowly transformed. Looking like a huge, lumpy prune, James floated into the air. He wobbled there for a moment before careening sideways and slamming against the side of the building.

  Ben smiled smugly as James clung to the wall and wept. “It’ll be a while before you cause anymore trouble, Jimmy,” said Ben as he brushed imaginary dust from his hands and hurried to untie Persephone.

  “Get away!” The chair wobbled as if on its own as she struggled to escape.

  “It’s okay,” said Benjamin, rippling back into himself. “It’s me.”

  “Ben! Am I happy to see you!” Persephone exclaimed. She made herself visible again while all her extra arms shimmered away. She didn’t look like her usual tidy self, though. Her dark-red hair was clumpy on one side and sticking out on the other, smudges of dirt were streaked across her face, and the sleeve of her jacket was sliced open, showing a jagged cut running down her arm.

  Ben conjured a sharp knife from his fingertip and sliced the rope. Persephone shoved the frayed cords aside as Ben helped her to her feet. “Come on,” he said.

  They hurried around the corner and out into the town square. The fighting was still going on. A bunch of the Chase clones had been destroyed, but those that were left were now dressed as pirates and running about waving wooden swords and gouging anyone who came too close.

  “Okaaay,” said Persephone. “Someone’s been busy.”

  “We have to get out of here,” said Ben. “Have you seen any of the other kids?”

  Persephone nodded. “I know where Nori and Andy are hiding. I caught a glimpse of them when I was running away from James.”

  “Okay. You get them and I’ll find Chase. We’ll meet back behind this building.”

  “All right. Invisible.” Persephone hurried away. Several minutes later, she slipped behind Andy’s magical shield. “Hey, guys, how’s it going?”

  “Persephone!” both Andy and Nori exclaimed as she appeared next to them.

  “Thank goodness you got away from James!” said Nori with a relieved smile.

  They all jerked back when the shield shook and dimmed as a volley of energy beams slammed against it. Thankfully, it held.

  Persephone glared through the barrier at Clive’s angry face. “How long has he been there?”

  “Just a couple minutes,” said Nori.

  “Yeah,” said Andy, looking glum. “I wanted to tell him to shove it up his—but Mom doesn’t like me to say those kinds of things.”

  “We need to get rid of him and meet Benjamin,” said Persephone. “Any ideas?”

  “I have one,” said Andy, “but it’ll take a lot of power to do it. If we can do it at all.”

  “Spit it out,” said Nori. She lurched to the side when the shield shuddered and rippled like melting glass. “We’re sort of running out of time here.”

  “I want to try to freeze the whole town, except us and Dad and Chase.”

  Persephone nibbled on her bottom lip. “I think it’ll work,” she said at last. “Combining your natural power with Nori’s will give you extra strength, and the power of my necklace should give us another extra boost.”

  “If it does work,” said Nori, “we’ll have to come up with a strong spell to completely incapacitate Clive so he can’t hurt anyone else.”

  Persephone nodded. “Good idea. We’ll make him sorry he ever messed with us!” They all grabbed hands and closed their eyes. “Go for it,” said Persephone as the shield shook like it was stuck in an earthquake.

  “Okay. Concentrate and picture everyone but us looking like statues,” said Andy.

  Time seemed to slow down as the three kids put all their power to work. Waves of energy radiated out from them. Persephone’s necklace became warmer against her skin with each passing second.

  BOOM! Their shield exploded and froze. Shiny fragments were suspended in the air like glittering bits of diamonds. Clive’s face was locked in a wide-eyed look of glee. The energy beams sticking from his fingertips resembled long shards of red glass.

  “We did it!” Andy jumped to his feet. “I gotta find Chase.”

  Before either of the girls had a chance to stop him, he ducked around the broken shield and dashed off. After all the noise and confusion, the place was eerily quiet.

  As Andy wove his way through all the creepy statue-people, he wrinkled his nose at the sour garbage odors wafting through the air. And even though he knew the magic wasn’t supposed to freeze the real Chase, he still stopped to check every pirate-clad-clone he passed, just in case. None of them was his brother. His shoulders drooped as his stomach twisted into knots. “What if something awful happened to him?” he said to himself. “Don’t even think that. He’s okay. He’s okay.”

  Andy cried out in relief when he finally spotted Chase sprawled on the ground, his chest rising and falling in short painful gasps. “Chase! Is it really you?”

  “Andy, practicing your freezing techniques again, I see,” Chase choked out feebly. Smoke drifted from his tattered shirt and jacket, and he had ugly red scorch marks criss-crossing his chest and arms.

  “Wow!” exclaimed Andy. “You don’t look too good. Did Janie do this to you?”

  Chase nodded as he slowly pushed himself into a sitting position. At the moment, it took way too much effort to speak. He needed all his strength just to keep breathing properly. To be honest, he wished he had enough energy to jump up and give Andy an enormous hug. If time hadn’t stopped when it did, Chase was pretty sure he wouldn’t have lasted through another strong volley of Janie’s energy beams.

  “Why didn’t you fight back?” asked Andy.

  Chase lifted one shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. It was the best he could manage. “Didn’t want to hurt her,” he mumbled.

  Andy stepped in front of Janie and stared at her. Even frozen in time, her dark eyes glittered with hatred. “She hates us now, doesn’t she?”

  “Pretty much,” Chase whispered hoarsely, grimacing.

  “When we get her home,” said Andy, “we’ll make her change her mind.”

  Chase shook his head. That Andy, always the optimist.

  Su
ddenly and without any warning, the place came back to life. Burning red beams exploded from Janie’s fingertips and slammed into Andy’s face. “Aaahhh!” Andy’s screech of agony echoed across the square. He collapsed to the ground.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Pain

  “Andy!” screamed Chase.

  He crawled to Andy’s crumpled body. Chase rolled him over and then gaped at his little brother. His face was swollen almost beyond recognition, while blood poured from his nose and ears, and the corners of his eyes. Bubbling, ugly blisters were seared across his cheeks, the worst zigzagging from his temple, across the left side of his face and down his neck. His glasses were completely shattered.

  Chase’s hand shook as he reached out and ran a finger along one of the jagged injuries. “Shrimp?” he said, in a small, lost voice.

  Tears streaming down his face, Chase staggered to his feet. “You killed him!” he shouted to Janie. “You killed Andy! Why? He never did anything to you!”

  If Janie felt any remorse, she didn’t show it as she said flatly, “One down, three to go.”

  When the weird buzzing started, deep down, for a second, Chase thought about fighting to control it. After all, Janie was family. He cared about her. But when he looked from Andy’s limp, damaged body to Janie’s cold, unfeeling face, any good thoughts about his cousin vanished. Doing something dreadful to her might be the only thing that would heal the pain. He let the angry buzzing take over until it needed to explode from him.

  Blazing, white-hot lightning bolts blasted from his eyes. They slammed into Janie’s stomach. Her eyes bulged at the strong magic now pouring from Chase. The force of the bolts was so great, it lifted Janie off her feet and sent her flying into the air. She crashed down into an old, cracked fountain covered in moss and bird droppings. The scummy water washed over her. She floated, unmoving. Her head was cocked at an odd angle; blood poured from the gaping wound across one side of her face, and from her left leg, which was twisted underneath her, while her hair circled around her head like a dark halo.